Comic Book Resources

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]

Continue Reading »

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

The Book of Genesis Illustrated

Sales charts | R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated climbs seven spots to No. 2 in its second month on BookScan's list of top-selling adult graphic novels in bookstores. It's bested, as most are, by the latest volume of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. But it's another story on USA Today's bestseller chart, where Crumb's book drops 49 places in its second week to No. 129. [ICv2.com, USA Today]

Passings | Tom Spurgeon, NPR's Mark Memmott and Ina Jaffe, and Michael Cieply of The New York Times have obituaries for Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf, who passed away on Nov. 3 at the age of 76.

Libraries | The Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subculture opened over the weekend at Meiji University's Surugadai campus in Tokyo. Users can become one-day members of the library, where they can have access to about half of the 140,000 manga for about $1.10 per copy. The books can't be removed from the library. [The Japan Times]

Internet | Tom Spurgeon points out that the review blog Guttergeek will move to the expanded TCJ.com, joining a stable of hosted blogs that will include The Hooded Utilitarian. [Guttergeek]

Continue Reading »

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

Shel Dorf with Warren Beatty in 1990

Passings | Sheldon "Shel" Dorf, who in 1970 co-founded the event that grew into Comic-Con International, passed away Nov. 3 in San Diego's Sharp Memorial Hospital from diabetes-related complications. He was 76.

A collector of comics and Dick Tracy memorabilia, Dorf had run Triple Fan Fest in his native Detroit. After he moved to San Diego in early 1970, he met Ken Krueger of Alert Books in Ocean Beach and the two, together with a group of teen-aged fans, organized first Golden State Comic Con, held Aug. 1-3, 1970, at the U.S. Grant Hotel. Dorf served as president, or chairman, of the convention until the mid-1980s, stepping away just as the annual event was becoming a national stage for pop culture.

Dorf reportedly struggled with diabetes for years, gradually losing mobility and vision. He entered Sharp Memorial Hospital in 2008 and never left. His brother Michael was with him when he died.

Mark Evanier, of course, has a nice tribute to Dorf peppered with memories dating back to before that first convention. There's also an extensive Shel Dorf Tribute website, and a memorial banner topping the Comic-Con International homepage. The photo above, of Dorf with Warren Beatty on the set of the 1990 Dick Tracy movie, is borrowed from Alan Light's Flickr stream. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

Continue Reading »

From Comic-Con to Fabletown With Love

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love #1

On the Vertigo blog, Group Editor Shelly Bond provides a glimmer of hope for any artist who views the annual DC Comics portfolio review at Comic-Con as akin to tilting at windmills: It's through that process last year that she discovered Chrissie Zullo, cover artist for the upcoming miniseries Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love.

"I remember commenting on how much I liked her painting style — specifically the balance of the pretty and the 'don’t think you’re going to take me home just yet' power," Bond writes. "Chrissie has a mercurial charm, evident not only in the alluring execution of her figure work but also in her choice of rich, traditional color palettes. She finds inspiration from classical painters such as Jean Honore Fragonard and Francois Boucher, and modernists alike, including comic book artists Winsor McCay, James Jean and Adam Hughes."

So she asked Zullo to put together a few "mock" Fables covers to determine how the artist handled composition and typographical elements.

"When her camera-ready samples came in a few weeks later, I couldn’t believe my eyes," Bond writes. "And strangely enough, at that very millisecond, I was looking for a cover artist for the new Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love miniseries. One of Chrissie’s images in particular happened to look like Cinderella so it seemed like there was more than a good chance that she could handle this fantastic first assignment. Upon showing Chrissie’s samples to Bill Willingham, he replied 'Hire that woman!' on the spot."

Sure, Zullo was only one out of "the hundreds/thousands" of portfolio submission, but still ... that qualifies as a glimmer. Yeah?

Task force recommends expansion of San Diego Convention Center

San Diego Convention Center

A mayor's task force has recommended a proposed $750-million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, a move viewed as crucial to keeping Comic-Con International in the city past 2012.

In its final draft report, released yesterday afternoon, the Mayor's Citizen Task Force on the San Diego Convention Center Project found the expansion "would provide a significant positive economic impact" to the region, and would generate new jobs. The task force also laid out several options for financing the project, including an increase in city or county sales tax and the creation of a special taxing district around the convention center.

As Liam Dillon notes in his overview of the expansion debate, Mayor Jerry Sanders has called the convention center "the goose that lays the golden eggs"; it's contributed an estimated $18.3 billion to the city's economy since it opened in 1989.

Officials have feared that without the expansion, which would allow the convention center to better compete with those in cities like Anaheim, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, San Diego could stand to lose some $2.7 billion as organizations moved there events elsewhere. Among those groups is Comic-Con International, whose contract with the San Diego Convention Center expires in 2012.

Off-topic: The Venture Bros. Season 4 trailer

Adult Swim has released the extended trailer for Season 4 of The Venture Bros., shown last month at Comic-Con International. (If you visit the website you can also watch a condensed video of the convention panel.)

On his Livejournal, series creator Jackson Publick reveals that Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live, Superbad) will be the new voice of Professor Impossible, the Reed Richards parody originally played by Stephen Colbert.

San Diego Aftermath: Johnny Zito and Tony Trov

Tony and Johnny

Last month I spoke with Johnny Zito and Tony Trov, writers of the Zuda strip Black Cherry Bombshells, before they embarked on a road trip from Philadelphia to the San Diego Comic-Con. They made it to the con, and back home, safely, so I spoke with them again to see what they saw and what they learned on America's highways. I've also included some of their video travel journals they made along the way.

JK: Let's start with the first leg of the road trip. What were some of the highlights, in terms of places you stop and stuff you saw along the way?

Tony Trov: We took a leisurely 15 day trip and tried to take in as many cities we could.

Johnny Zito: Somewhere around Ohio our GPS went dead, and we were navigating into Chicago via stars and magnets.

Tony Trov: Things went pretty smoothly after that. We bed down in Colorado the next night. Boulder’s great because the altitude makes every beer count twice.

Johnny Zito: Ended up in Vegas after that. Killed a buffet, doubled our money and checked out some Black Cherry Bombshells’ landmarks.

Tony Trov: It was a mad dash to LA where we couch surfed and bbq-ed.

Johnny Zito: We overestimated the distance to San Diego, bolted from LA super early and got to Comic Con on Thursday with time to spare.

Tony Trov: It was a pretty smooth journey. Kept waiting for that disaster to strike but it never did. Instead we were treated to an endless string of highway diners and open roads.

Continue Reading »

SDCC Aftermath | Talking with BOOM!'s Neil Loughrie

BOOM!'s booth, before the con started

I spoke with Neil Loughrie a few weeks back right before the San Diego Comic-Con. At the time, Loughrie was getting ready for his first San Diego show, where he would be responsible for all of BOOM! Studios' booth logistics.

I spoke with him again after the show to see how everything went.

JK: Overall, how did things go at the BOOM! booth during SDCC?

Neil: Things went great! Even better than we expected. We met a lot of great fans and a lot of great creators. Roger Langridge from The Muppet Show Comic Book was at the booth for the entire week, and we had such a great time with him there, and I think the fans really responded well. All in all, it was BOOM!’s best San Diego yet.

Continue Reading »

Congrats to Jennifer de Guzman on her 'own little parasite'

Congratulations to SLG Publishing's editor-in-chief and Robot 6 contributor Jennifer de Guzman and to her husband and artist Brian Belew -- Jennifer announced on her blog that she is pregnant.

"Yes, I have my own little parasite," she writes. "Thus, my Comic-Con sketchbook theme this year. Tommy Kovac's sketch for me is a perfect image of what I've felt like for the last 14 weeks. (Making a person is hard. Who knew?) Working the convention while three months pregnant was challenging, to say the least."

Batman: "I'm not into top 40"

This video of various cosplayers at Comic-Con listening to "Imma Be" goes on a little too long ... ok, a lot too long. But if you've ever wanted to see an old guy dressed as Batman dancing to the Black Eyed Peas, this is the video for you:

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

I apologize for the lack of a roundup yesterday, and the lateness of today's installment, but I've been without a properly functioning Internet connection.

Fighting American #3

Publishing | Plans by Dynamite Entertainment to revive Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's 1950s superhero Fighting American appear to have unraveled after Simon announced he rejected the publisher's proposal. He claims he only learned that Dynamite had moved forward with the project after reading a Comic Book Resources report from Comic-Con.

An attorney for the Kirby Estate disagrees with Simon's version of events, saying the creator had been informed of, and had approved, negotiations from the "very beginning." However, out of respect for Simon's wishes, the Kirby Estate will no longer participate in the Fighting American revival. [Simon and Kirby blog, Newsarama]

Marvel

Publishing | Although Marvel Entertainment's second-quarter profits dipped slightly, primarily because of lower licensing revenue, it still beat its estimates for the three months ending June 30. The company earned $116.3 million, or 37 cents per share, for the quarter. Sales in the publishing division were flat at $31.7 million. On a related note: The Globe and Mail looks at how Marvel and Hasbro are ratcheting up the number of toy tie-ins for the Iron Man movie sequel. [Yahoo! Finance, ICv2.com]

Publishing | Drawn & Quarterly has extended its deal with cartoonist and author Lynda Barry to include two new works: The Near-Sighted Monkey Book: Picture This, and a prose novel called Birdis. [The Comics Reporter]

Continue Reading »

SDCC '09 | Wrapping up the wrap-ups

The San Diego Comic-Con ended more than a week ago, but folks are still posting their thoughts, memories and opinions about the show. There are a ton of them out there, and by now most of you are probably sick of hearing about the show, but I wanted to highlight a couple of them ...

Today Heidi MacDonald published her huge, comprehensive report over at the Beat, covering everything from Camp Twilight and Stan Lee to Hall H and the "20-megaton douche bomb" that has hit the con:

Continue Reading »

SDCC Aftermath | Justin Aclin talks Hero House, toys and more

Hero House

As he said last month, Justin Aclin went to the San Diego Comic-Con both to promote his new graphic novel from Arcana, Hero House, and to cover the con for his day job with ToyFare Magazine. I caught back up with Justin after the show to see how everything went on both fronts.

JK: Unfortunately I was already on my way home when you were doing your signing on Sunday for Hero House. How did the signing go?

Justin: The signing was great! Obviously no one had the chance to read Hero House yet, but I was able to meet a bunch of really nice ToyFare fans who were willing to pick up the book and give it a shot. At one point I had one Twisted ToyFare fan standing at the table while I signed his book, and another walked up and started talking about his favorite Twisted ToyFare moments, and it just became a conversation between the two of them, quoting their favorite jokes. As a comedy writer who never gets to see an audience react to what he writes, it was a very gratifying moment. We also had our artist, Mike Dimayuga, sketching at the signing, which brought in even more curious onlookers.

Continue Reading »

Guest post: David Brothers on why conventions are fun

Editor's note: I roomed with David Brothers at the San Diego Comic-Con this year, and not only did he not snore, but he also agreed to write something up for Robot 6 about the con. Now that's a good roommate. To see more from David, check out his regular posts over at 4thletter!

by David Brothers

San Diego Comic-Con 2009 has been over for just about a week now, and I feel like I'm finally shaking that hazy feeling a lot of con-goers experience post-con. It's kind of like being cast out of Never Never Land and forced to become an adult again. No more late nights partying, talking about comics, and constant sensory overload.

I always forget that the sensory overload isn't the most fun part of the con. Walking the show floor is like having several thousand people shouting in your ear to buy this, check this out, look at this, don't you want this, c'mon buy this! all at the same time. It's always very interesting, and there are some great things to be seen on the floor, but really, it's all just a big ad, right?

Continue Reading »

SDCC Aftermath | Neil Kleid talks about San Diego

The Big Kahn

A couple of weeks ago I did a series of interviews with a few people who were heading off to Comic-Con International in San Diego. The first was with writer Neil Kleid, who was heading there to support his new book from NBM, The Big Kahn, as well as to meet with various comics and movie folks about possible future projects.

Neil survived his trip to Southern California, so I emailed him a few questions about his experiences there.

JK: Looking back at what you had planned for the con, you mentioned the main reason you were at the big con was to promote The Big Kahn. So how did the book do?

Neil: Really, really well. It's weird — this was the first convention where I had folks (unknown folks, not pals and past readers) track me down to tell me they'd heard about the book, been told to find it and could they please buy a copy now please?

I'm not sure, numbers wise, how we did but I do know that I was signing pretty regularly, talking about the book and moving copies out the door. The greatest bit was when I was browsing around the Fantagraphics booth looking for new books and comics critic Tom Spurgeon approached me to congratulate me; he'd heard from Publishers Weekly editor Calvin Reid that Big Khan was the one book he needed to read he hadn't heard of, that buzz was growing.

Okay, so first of all — Tom Spurgeon NEVER approaches me, so I was already thrown. Secondly, the buzz book nobody'd heard of? Man, I must be doing something wrong marketing wise. But secretly, I'm thrilled. I had fans, creators, critics AND celebrities track me down to buy copies of my books this weekend, and I guess after almost 10 years making comics, I'm doing something right with a book people want to read.

I hope it doesn't suck, you know?

Continue Reading »