Comic Book Resources

What Are You Reading?

From Hell

Hey there, hi there, ho there, it's time once again for What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is blogger and Top Shelf pr guru Leigh Walton. Want to know what Leigh is reading this week? Of course you do! Click on the link to find out, then let us know what you're reading in the comments section.

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What Are You Reading?

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

Well bust my buttons, if it isn't time for another round of What Are You Reading, where we talk about all the comics, books and other reading matter we're currently engrossed in. Our guest this week is High Moon co-creator and writer David Gallaher, who's been blogging with us at Robot 6 all this past week.

David has quite a list of titles to pour over, so let's get to it. Click on the link below to get started.

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

Disney and Marvel

Retailing | Could Disney's planned $4-billion purchase of Marvel signal the return comic books to the mass market? "I see the Marvel acquisition by Disney helping to expand the genre of comic books and remove it from the dusty basement of the world," says direct-market retailer Creswell. "I do see Disney stepping in and offering retailers outside of the direct comic book market incentives for selling Marvel products," Creswell said. [Reuters]

Publishing | Long-struggling e-book site Wowio reportedly has informed publishers that payments for the second quarter of 2008 will be made by Nov. 15. Wowio, which was purchased last year by Platinum Studios, was sold in July to a holding company formed by Platinum President and COO Brian Altounian. [Bleeding Cool]

Long Beach Comic Con

Conventions | The inaugural Long Beach Comic Con kicks off today at the Long Beach Convention Center in California. Guests include Berkeley Breathed, Stan Lee, Tim Bradstreet, J. Scott Campbell, Amanda Conner, Geoff Johns, Dave Johnson, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Scott Lobdell, Dustin Nguyen, Darick Robertson and Mark Waid. The Long Beach Post and Gazettes Town-News have previews. [Long Beach Comic Con]

Events | 24-Hour Comics Day will be held Saturday at locations around the world. [24-Hour Comics Day]

Conventions | Heidi MacDonald posts her Small Press Expo round-up/wrap-up/photo parade. [The Beat]

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What are you reading?

Labor Days Vol. 2

Welcome once again to What are you reading?, the weekly column where the Robot 6 team runs through what comics and other stuff they've been checking out lately. As Chris is in Bethesda this weekend, I'm filling in for him as your host.

Our special guests this time are Philip Gelatt and Rick Lacy, creators of the Labor Days graphic novels published by Oni Press. Volume two, Just Another Damn Day, is now available in finer retail establishments everywhere. (You can check out a preview here).

See what they've been reading, as well as the rest of the Robot 6 crew, after the jump ...

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

Marvel

Legal | New York City-based law firm Levi & Korsinsky on Friday filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Disney's $4-billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment. Like the earlier lawsuit filed by Marvel shareholder Christine Vlatos, this one claims the proposed transaction undervalues Marvel's stock. [press release]

Business | DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson continues her interview tour, assuring retailer-oriented website ICv2.com "we’re going to be looking for a real publisher" to succeed Paul Levitz as head of DC Comics: "This is not about replacing someone with a cyborg unit that will answer to me. We want a publishing expert."

At MTV's movie-focused Splash Page, Nelson highlights DC's Vertigo imprint as "an area of great interest" that "could potentially offer amazing stories for our future television video game, digital and consumer products businesses." [ICV2.com, Splash Page]

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

Disney Interactive Studios

Business | Disney has followed its announced $4-billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment with the hiring of Bungie Software founder, and Halo co-creator, Alex Seropian as the head of creative for its video-game division. As part of the deal, Disney Interactive Studios acquired Chicago-based Wideload Games, the studio Seropian founded in 2003 after leaving Bungie. [CNBC.com]

Business | Not only will Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter become $4.3 million richer on the day the Disney merger closes, he'll become Disney's second-largest stockholder behind Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. [Orlando Sentinel]

Comic strips | Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World has returned to the Village Voice after a seven-month absence. Parent company Village Voice Media announced in late January it had suspended publication of syndicated comics in its 15 newspapers as part of company-wide cost-cutting measures. [This Modern World, via The Daily Cartoonist]

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

Donald Duck

Publishing | Egmont Publishing House has issued a warning to Danish readers that last week's issue of Donald Duck & Co. (Anders And & Co.) includes a fingerprinting set that contains a toxic iron-based powder. The publisher is recalling all unsold issues, and has advised parents to immediately throw out the fingerprinting set. [The Copenhagen Post]

Publishing | Tokyopop announced Wednesday in a webcast that seven series that were placed on hiatus last year during the company's restructuring will resume publication in mid-2010. The publisher also will add several new titles to its lineup. [About.com]

Publishing | First Second's Calista Brill offers her perspective on what an editor is and isn't. [Doodles and Dailies]

Webcomics | Sean Kleefeld critiques the Zuda Comics interface, and points to "a larger problem with using Flash to deliver web comics." [Kleefeld on Comics]

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Kodansha ends its agreement with Tokyopop

Beck Vol. 1

This surely would have made a bigger news splash yesterday were it not for the whole Disney buying Marvel tomfoolery. The Japanese publisher Kodansha has decided that it will end its manga relationship with Tokyopop and let its licenses expire series in progress will not be completed by Tokyopop and existing volumes will not be reprinted meaning, that series in progress will not be completed by Tokyopop and existing volumes will not be reprinted.

Here's a sample from Tokyopop's press release, which I cribbed from Brigid Alverson:

TOKYOPOP will not be allowed to complete the publication of any series that is currently in progress; in addition, TOKYOPOP will not be allowed to reprint titles after the current inventory has been sold out, so once these series are sold out at retail, they will not be available for consumers to purchase. The reasons for Kodansha’s decision were not communicated to TOKYOPOP.

Deb Aoki has a useful timeline detailing a number of events that have led to this decision, including Dark Horse picking up titles like Chobits and Clover. She also examines which titles are being dropped mid-serialization in a separate post. David Welsh, meanwhile, has a full list of titles here, which include Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Love Hina and Peach Girl.

There's been no word from Kodansha about the decision, but the issue will surely come up, as Aoki notes, during the next Tokyopop webcast, which is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m., Pacific time.

Finally, Brigid has a round-up of internet reactions over at Mangablog.

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

Superman #1

Legal | A federal judge has ordered Warner Bros. and the heirs of Jerry Siegel to make another attempt at mediated settlement in their prolonged dispute over Superman. The parties will file a joint report on Sept. 18 outlining their efforts. [Jeff Trexler]

Crime | Authorities in Colorado say two brothers at the head of a massive methamphetamine ring were planning to use classic comic books to launder money. Police seized comics worth at least $500,000 when they arrested the suspects. [The Denver Post, The Associated Press]

Publishing | As Tokyopop gears up for its new online initiative, and King City finds new life this week at Image, Don MacPherson checks in with Brandon Graham and three other casualties of the manga publisher's 2008 implosion: Ross Campbell's The Abandoned, Eric Wight's My Dead Girlfriend and Becky Cloonan's East Coast Rising. [Eye on Comics]

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Unbound: Tokyopop goes online

Last year, when Tokyopop underwent a major restructuring, it suspended most of its original manga series, leaving a number of incomplete stories in limbo. That state of suspended animation ended last week, when Tokyopop Director of Marketing Marco Pavia announced that Tokyopop will complete most of the series, including Earthlight, Afterlife, and Gyakushu, online. Each volume will be posted for free, one chapter per week.

For Tony Salvaggio, the creator of Psy*Comm, the news came as a relief. Psy*Comm is the first series in the new program; Salvaggio and co-writer Jason Henderson had finished the book, and it was being lettered when publication was called off last year. “We missed the window by about a month,” he said.

Now that the book is coming out, Salvaggio has put together a Facebook page to promote it. The series is being published in other countries, including the UK, Turkey, and Croatia, and the first volume was named to the 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. Salvaggio hopes that being online will get his story in front of more readers. “We don’t sell gangbusters, but people who have read the book have really enjoyed it,” he said. “At A-Kon, everybody who came by and bought book one came back the next day and bought book two.”

We talked to Pavia about Tokyopop’s plans for the online manga program and where they hope it will go from here.

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

Superman #1

Legal | A blog comment by publisher Denis Kitchen has led to another victory for the heirs of Jerry Siegel in their lengthy legal battle with Warner Bros. and DC Comics over the rights to Superman. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Siegels co-own the rights to Action Comics #4, pages 3-6 of Superman #1, and the first two weeks worth of Superman comic strips. The same judge decided in March that the Siegels own half of Action Comics #1 and, therefore, half the rights to Superman. [Blog@Newsarama]

Publishing | Tokyopop has announced it will serialize several of its original series online for free. Titles include Psy-Comm, Undertown, Kat & Mouse, Pantheon High and Gyakushu. [press release]

Publishing | Marc Mason, editor of Comics Waiting Room, has been hired to handle public relations for NBM Publishing. [NBM Publishing]

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

Tumor

Publishing | Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov explains the decision to syndicate his graphic novel Tumor on Amazon's Kindle: "The Kindle represents a seamless method to purchase and read content. You buy the book, and it magically appears on your screen a second or two later. The playing field becomes quite a bit more even. People will still be drawn to bigger authors or titles, but, for the people who want to seek out your work, they actually can. The same can't be said of most comic shops, or, for that matter, most bookstores. In effect, by removing the physical commodity, we've opened up the marketplace to endless options. It's no longer a question of whether to stock Batman OR Tumor, because they're both there, all the time, waiting to be downloaded. [The X-Change Files]

Publishing | In response to reader complaints, Tokyopop has upgraded the paper stock on its books. [About.com]

Bokurano: Ours

Publishing | Deb Aoki speaks at length with Hideki Egami, senior editor of Japan's IKKI, about the manga magazine's new North American counterpart, Viz Media's SigIKKI.com: "We have a slogan for IKKI, something like 'We are still at the dawn of the manga era.' This kind of explains our philosophy. The spirit of this tagline is that the dawn is still approaching; meaning that if you assume that the history of manga will continue for 200 years or longer, we are still at the very beginning." [About.com]

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What are you reading?

Modern Masters: Kyle Baker

Comic-con or no comic-con, gods or no gods, we aim to keep What Are You Reading up and running every Sunday regardless. Our special guest this week is none other than the one, the only Abhay Khosla. Abhay's a regular contributor to Brian Hibbs' Savage Critics Web site, but can also usually be found lurking about here.

To see what Abhay and everyone else is reading, click the little linky ...

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SDCC '09 | A few more last-minute pre-con notes

Re-Evolution

Creators | Re-Evolution creator Gus Higuera dropped us a note and some artwork about being at the con and the warp-up of season one of Re-Evolution at Zuda:

"It's hard to believe a year has already passed since we competed in last year's Zuda Invitational. We would like to thank Zuda and all our supporters for giving us this once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of DC Comics and letting us tell our story. For those of you visiting San Diego Comic Con, stop by and say hello to me and Re-Evolution's artist Juan Felipe Salcedo at the Zuda section of the DC Comics booth Thurs. - Sat. from 11:00AM-11:30AM and all weekend in booth #5335 in the Indy Press section. We have tons of free stuff for our fans in celebration of the end of our first Season. We would also like to invite all our supporters to send Zuda feedback to bring us back for a Season 2. http://www.zudacomics.com/feedback. Don't forgot to also follow us via Twitter during Zuda's virtual con under the #zudacon tag. Thanks once again and see you in San Diego. Viva La Re-Evolution!" --Gus Higuera

Fandom | If you can't go to the con this year, you can live vicariously through Mighty Mugg Spidey. (Via)

Creators | Steve Epting, Michael Ryan and Christina Strain will be at The Palm Restaurant at 615 J Street in San Diego tomorrow at noon to add some artwork to an ongoing Marvel character mural at the restaurant.

Manga | What's Tokyopop up to at the show? Glad you asked.

Manga | Viz is there, too.

Creators | Stan Sakai has "under construction" pictures from the showroom floor on Tuesday.

Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: HarperCollins fall catalog

History of the Modern World Part II

One of the joys of doing this semi-regular feature, scouring through catalogs, is every so often you come across a real jewel, or at least something that makes you sit up and take notice. For example, looking through HarperCollins's fall/winter line-up I discovered some rather interesting titles and one real notable graphic novel amidst the plethora of manga spin-offs. To wit:

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