Sunday, November 8
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Courtesy of A Distant Soil, Image Comics’ Shadowline line has continued with its child-friendly programming with Stagger Lee’s Derek McCulloch and Evil and Malice Save the World’s Jimmie Robinson’s T. RUNT, a story about, well, a smallish Tyrannosaurus.
Here’s the preview images:
For the record, I totally wanna be Magnus.
Mark Andrew Smith and Matthew Weldon’s New Brighton Archaeological Society is in stores this week.
Not familiar with the backstory? The book came out of Popgun 2007 (and you can read an interview about it here). And while we’re talking Popgun, in advance of Popgun Three (due April 1), Smith has a full 32-page story up for free with luscious art by Johann Leroux. Called Japanese Wasp, it’s a monster/superhero tale worth checking out. Plus, y’know, free comics.
So in honor of all of this, I bring you PREVIEW IMAGES! You’re welcome.
By Filip Sablik, Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc.
I love ice cream. It’s one of my many vices and I’m cool with that. Chocolate and vanilla are old standbys because they pair well with just about anything. Pie? Good. Cake? Good. Cookies? Good. Bananas, nuts, and candy? Good. A nice filet mignon? Probably not, but I’d be willing to try it.
As much as those two flavors are standbys and consistently the most popular flavors in surveys, I do love to experiment with different flavors. Hit me with some Peanut Butter Cup, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookies & Cream, Rocky Road, or any number of more unique combinations and I’m a happy man. What does this have to do with comics?
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen a bunch of “Best” lists online for top picks of comics and graphic novels for 2008 and couldn’t help but notice how heavily dominated they are by Big Two books. When I scan the list of top-selling books from Diamond each month on ICv2, I can’t help but notice the lack of what I would call independent titles. In the top 25 comics last month, there was only one non-Marvel, non-DC title – Buffy, The Vampire Slayer – an excellent read, but a licensed property with its roots in television. In the top 50, only two others – Angel (same boat as Buffy) and The Umbrella Academy. The Umbrella Academy gives me a little bit of hope, because it’s a fantastic, unique comic that doesn’t rely on a pre-established licensed property, but that’s only one out of 50! The top 100 looks a bit better, but only slightly so with the addition of The Walking Dead, Spawn, Conan the Cimmerian (licensed again) and Black Terror from Dynamite Entertainment.
Then reading John Mayo’s monthly report of sales through Diamond, I came across this chilling statement – “the total units sold for the top 300 comics was down by an estimated 1,763,925 units from October 2008 and down 1,185,793 from November 2007.” As John explains, the reason for this significant sales hit is because a number of high-profile titles from Marvel and DC Comics did not ship in those two months.
Back to my ice cream analogy so we can bring this blog entry full circle. Marvel and DC are our vanilla and chocolate. I say “our” because they’re mine as well, I love the characters and the stories these companies produce. But the pure domination of the market concerns me both as a fan of independent and original comics and as a publisher of the same said comics. It bugs me when I see a second or third-tier superhero character outselling a unique, critically acclaimed title like The Goon, Mouse Guard, Firebreather or Pax Romana.
Using November as an example again, Marvel had almost 43% of the total units sold to comic shops and DC had 35%. The percentages by which vanilla and chocolate are favorite flavors? According to the International Ice Cream Association, 29% prefer vanilla and less than 9% prefer chocolate. Independent comic publishers fight over 22% of the market, while other ice cream flavors compete for 62% of your taste buds. I think the latter makes for a much richer market place overall.
What do you think?
Take care,
Filip Sablik
Publisher Guy
Filip Sablik is the Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc. He’s been in the business for eight years and just officially entered his thirties. Occasionally, he does a bit of writing and drawing. He loves comics.
Top Cow Productions, Inc. was founded by Marc Silvestri, co-founder of Image Comics. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades.
In 2009, the big crossovers are coming strong for comics fans. But what if you’re new to the storyline? Have no fear — Newsarama has prepared a crib sheet for the biggest stories of 2009!
UPDATE: In case it isn’t clear, by “crib sheet” we mean SPOILERS AHEAD…
The New York Comiccon has announced a tentative lineup of its panel schedule!
Here are some of the highlights for this year’s programming:
The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Comic Professional: Creating the work is one thing, but what should you keep in mind in order to present yourself well to an editor? Do personality and rapport play a part in how you’re perceived? What’s the difference between a pro’s attitude and a novice’s? How do you balance doing quality work with making the deadline? What’s the proper way to pitch? (Friday, 2-3pm)
BOOM! Studios: BIG! BOLD! BOOM! Join Mark Waid, Ross Richie, and Chip Mosher as they run down the most exciting new projects at BOOM! Including a special announcement by Mark Waid that is sure to make your head explode! (Friday, 2:15-3:15)
Image Comics’ giant art-book of comics inspired by Tori Amos songs isn’t just for Tori fans, or comic fans. The book’s sold so well that it’s coming out with a new, shiny, hardcover slipcased edition (full disclosure: my review of it is blurbed on the back). You may be a Tori die-hard like me, or you may go “Eeeewww” at the mention of her name (as at least one person will no doubt do in comments), but the book is really a treasure, with work from so many writers and artists indie and mainstream. It spans the breadth of what’s being done in comics these days.
Editor Rantz Hoseley took some time to fill me in on the response to the book since I picked it up and wrote that review. So please, read on.
I was at a bar last night with some classmates to celebrate the end of the semester. One of the guys looked at me and said, “You know, I always wanted to know what a girl who reads comics looks like.”
There’s no deep, dark secret to what girls who read comics look like. We look like all sorts of things, and are quite often quite cute. (/ego.) But more important, I think, is what girls who read comics LIKE. Aside from comics, of course.
I’m a self-proclaimed nerd girl (nrrd grrl) and I get geeked out about many, many things, from classic film noir to Shakespeare’s language to the perfect rock song to, of course, good comics. And lots of comics folks are into many other things, too.
So “Talk Nerdy to Me” will be a sort of regular feature for me. I’ll post it when I feel like it, but what I aim to do is give you all a bit of insight into things that give me geek-gasms. I’m pulling quotes from comics folks or related pop-culturey types that made me go “oooh” and get a wee bit of a brain-crush.
Because we all know brain-crushes are the best kind.
I make no promises that anything I say in this column will help you pick up nerd girls (or guys). And I hope no one will be offended by the use of the word “nerd.” I mean it in only the best way. For real.
Anyway! To the point, woman!
This episode of “Talk Nerdy To Me” comes from the Annotations in the back of Phonogram: The Singles Club #1. Phonogram is a comic for people who get as excited about music as they do about new comics. And it’s excellent.
So. The backmatter for Phonogram contains many things, including a rundown on the musical references for the issue. I’m going to make you buy the comic yourselves, but I am going to quote the annotation on Nick Cave, a longstanding geek-crush of mine.
Cave, Nick: Okay, more seriously: One of the towering figures in leftfield popular music of the last thirty years. From the Birthday Party, through the sinful Southern Gothic of his early work with the Bad Seeds, to the spiritual versus romantic transcendence of albums like The Boatman’s Call, that’s a hell of a body of work. And there’s still another fifteen or so years after that. Still-he does have a tendency to off a lot of ladies. She Who Bleeds… references, in order, “She’s Hit” by the Birthday Party, “From Her to Eternity,” “The Mercy Seat” and the whole of Murder Ballads. Her “revenge” Comment is referencing things like his PJ Harvey duet “Henry Lee” when PJ gets to do the slaying.
Nick Cave explication plus comics plus feminist deconstruction? It’s triple-layer bliss. Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and guest artist Laurenn McCubbin: I kind of love you.
Plus, the comic is about as much sheer joy as can be packed into sequential format. Go buy it already.
Artist Rob Liefeld, always the source of good internet conversation, is signing tonight at Midtown Comics’ Times Square location in NYC, in support of his new original graphic novel from Image Comics, Armageddon Now: World War 3. The OGN features a marked shift in art style for Liefeld, with digital painting over his pencils. The writer, Phil Hotsenpiller, will also be there, signing copies of the recently released hardcover GN about the end of the world. As a longtime and unabashed fan of Liefeld’s work and how nice of a guy he is in person, I’m excited to attend tonight. Full details after the break. (more…)
Hey all!
I’m Dirk Manning.
Regular Newsarama readers will know me as a regular contributor to the site and the fellow in the dapper black hat who writes the ongoing advice/”how-to” column Write or Wrong. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid the first forty-six(!!!) installments of the column to date, click the link to check out the most recent edition from a few weeks ago. As always, it’s informative and entertaining. Honest!
Fans of horror and/or online comics might also know me as the guy responsible for NIGHTMARE WORLD, a series of stand-alone but carefully intertwined short stories that detail several people’s lives and loves (and, yes, occasionally deaths) before, during and after an Armageddon of very Lovecraftian proportions. Cthulhu appears often, if that helps to motivate you, and we were also recently picked-up by Shadowline as part of their webcomic family to boot. Huzzah for us!
Aside from all that, Matt Brady also saw fit to thrust me upon the gang of talented folks who will be bringing you the new Blog @ Newsarama. I dunno, apparently Troy Brownfield made him mad or lost a bet or something…
Whatever the reason, the end result is that I’ll now be popping-in here from time-to-time in addition to my regular Newsarama duties, posting comic and entertainment stuff that I think is interesting and worthy of sharing with you fine folks.
I’ll try to keep the obscure pulp/horror references to a minimum. No promises there, though.
Written and/or Illustrated by Jose Luis Ágreda, Jeff Amano, Paul Azaceta, Gabriel Bá, Hilary Barta, Frank Beaton, Nate Bellegarde, Ivan Brandon, Ryan Brown, Chris Brunner, Eric Canete, Benito Cereno, Becky Cloonan, Dave Crosland, Farel Dalrymple, Jonathan L. Davis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Rami Efal, Matt Fraction, John G, Rob G, Brandon Graham, Miles Gunter, Phil Hester, Mike Huddleston, Adam Hughes, Rian Hughes, Frazer Irving, Paul Lau, Jasen Lex, Sonny Liew, Vasilis Lolos, Andy MacDonald, Jim Mahfood, Alex Maleev, Paul Maybury, Fábio Moon, Tony Moore, Melissa Oeming, Mike Oeming, Dan Panosian, Leland Purvis, Rick Remender, Esad Ribic, John Ney Rieber, Eduardo Risso, Jim Rugg, Neal Shaffer, Lakota Sioux, Mark Andrew Smith, James Stokoe, Rick Spears, Ben Templesmith, Frank Teran, and Danijel Zezelj.
Edited by Ivan Brandon
Image Comics; $24.99
This was a hard review to write. Not because I’m conflicted about the material (though I am), but because I was so completely off in my expectations for the book and it’s taken some work to align myself with what it really is.
– Alison Bechdel and Harvey Pekar, together at last.
– Steve Duin has some good news about underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson, who has been in ICU for the past several days.
– Ada Price talks to Dave Gibbons about his new book, Watching the Watchmen.
– Looks like it’s official: Naruto Nation 2009 is totally a go.
– Sam Thielman looks at the significance of Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing in light of the new super-fancy collection coming out soon.
– Over at Stars and Stripes, Gary Trudeau answers some of his critics.
– Van Jensen talks to Mike Allred about the revamped Red Rocket collection.
– Here’s my idea of a fun time: Dan Nadel, Gary Panter and CF sitting around, talking about art and comics.
– Did you know About Comics is 10 years old this year? I didn’t. Chris Murphy has a recollection.
– Sandy Bilus is giving away a copy of Alan’s War over at his blog.
– Oscar Pedro Musibay looks at the Comics Galaxy event that was held at last weekend’s Miami Book Fair.
– Frank Santoro considers the new Popeye collection.
If you’ve been looking for a reason to try out some of the comic book applications that have been popping up in the iTunes application store, here’s your chance to try them out and help a good cause.
iVerse, a company that’s turned Shadowhawk, Proof, Flash Gordon and several other comics titles into iPhone applications, will donate half of all proceeds from a “Hero Initiative Spotlight” book each month to the charity. The program kicks off this month with Shadowhawk v.2 #1, which is 99 cents in the app store.
“I think it is terribly important to support the creators that helped build this industry.” said iVerse owner Michael Murphey. “We are working on the future of this industry with these digital comics - but it would be completely impossible for us to be where we are, without the amazing work that these creators have done, and we’re honored to be able to work with Hero on this project.”
You can find out more about iVerse and the titles they offer (including several free ones) at their website.
This week Vulture has a 13-page excerpt of David Hines fine horror comic, Strange Embrace, now available from Image.
– The Festival International de la BD Angouleme, one of the premiere comics events in Europe, announced their official selections list last week. And hey, Wanted is one of the nominees! Over at Comics Reporter, Eurocomic expert Bart Beaty handicaps the list: “In all honesty, the fact that Wanted has been nominated for this prize made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.”
– The Daily Cross Hatch talks to Beanworld creator Larry Marder and Capacity creator Theo Ellsworth.
– Joshua Dysart takes you behind the scenes of the new Vertigo series Unknown Soldier: “Once a month, on the same Wed. that the new issue of Unknown Soldier hits, we’ll post a segment of the book here, separating each stage of the creative process, from script to breakdowns to inks to lettering to coloring. It’s the closest you’re going to get to looking over Alberto’s shoulder while he works.”
– “Brandon” responds to Spurious’ essay about Charles Crumb that everyone linked to last week.
– Brian Briggs is having a “name that trick or treater” contest over on his blog.
– Richard Sala was sharing scary stories on Weekend America the other day.
Over at the Top Shelf Productions blog, Hey Bartender!, Brett Warnock shares some unused Creature Tech pin-ups by The Goon creator Eric Powell (above) and Street Angel/Plain Janes artist Jim Rugg.
The pin-ups were supposed to be used in a reprint of the book before Creature Tech creator Doug TenNapel moved the book to Image Comics. “Oh, but wait, Doug took it away from Top Shelf, in spite of the fact that Chris did a mighty tight job story-editing the book into the kick-ass version it ended up being,” Warnock says. “Sadly, these images will now never see print.”
To coincide with the release of the Hatter M trade paperback — it collects miniseries published in 2005 by Image Comics — Automatic Pictures has launched a web series that picks up some time after the end of the first story.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hatter M, it’s comic-book a spin-off of Frank Beddor’s novel The Looking Glass War, which asserts that Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were lies. Hatter M focused on Hatter Madigan, a bodyguard who’s forced to flee to the real world with Alyss Heart (aka Alice Liddell), princess of Wonderland.
The webisodes are by Beddor, Hatter M co-writer Liz Cavalier and new artist Tyson Schroeder (Ben Templesmith illustrated the miniseries).
Sean Kleefeld reviews the first installment of the web series as well and the trade paperback.
– 20 things Every Superhero Comic Collection Needs.
– Laura Hudson talks to Brian Azzarello about his upcoming Joker graphic novel.
– Seth is curating a series of films from the National Film Board of Canada. Drawn! has the details.
– The Mindless Ones look at the work of ero-guru artist Suehiro Maruo (note: some images are probably NSFW).
– Peter Sanderson looks at the new edition of Patrick Rosenkranz’s seminal history of underground comix, Rebel Visions.
– Fantasy.fr has an interview with Devilman creator and manga-ka Go Nagai.
– Judith Rosen checks out the Comics and Classics store in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
– Craig Fischer has a short interview with alt-cartoonist Ben Towle.
– Evie Nagy looks at all the political comics coming out this month.
– Noah Berlatsky did not like David Heatley’s new book. Like, at all.
• Ryan Kelly draws Delirium.
• Congrats to former Blog@ columnist Neil Kleid, who welcomed his son into the world this week.
• Online comics retailer Westfield Comics talks to Larry Marder about his return to Beanworld. “I spent 15 years at Image Comics and McFarlane Toys, and three years before that at Moondog’s Comicland as Marketing Director,” he says. “I spent a long time managing other people’s creativity and I decided it was time for me to come back and do my own work.” Also, Blog@ sends our condolences to Marder, whose father recently passed away.
• Here’s an interesting comic reference in a non-comics news story — U.S. News & World Report interviews Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart about why people are drawn to living where they do:
Now you can find people who share your views by picking the TV channels you watch, radio you listen to, and websites you visit. Is it still important to live in a specific place with like-minded people?
If you’re in that consciousness, you can find people like you. They are there. And there’s a marketing reason to move. If you are around people who are like you, then the movies and books you like come to your bookstore. The author you like comes to city hall. If you’re a comic book artist, you move to Portland, and that way the stuff that you want is all around you. You are going to be around the stuff that accumulates around the people who are like yourself.
• How to get your fix in the DC universe.
• And finally, you can read Walking Dead #17 over on MySpace Comics for free.
• Colleen Doran sent this one over to me — check out some really nice preview pages from an as-yet-unpublished book called Elf~Fin: Hyfus and Tilaweed. They’re looking for a publisher, by the way.
• High Moon creator David Gallaher has a new column over at ComicMix called Mixing It Up, where he “experiences the world beyond comics to discuss the influences, hobbies, and thoughts of your favorite artists and writers.” In the first column, he joins his fellow Zuda compatriots Johnny Zito and Tony Trov for Zombie Prom in Philadelphia.
• If you crave some additional reports from SPX beyond what Chris Mautner has shared so far, you can check out reports from The Beat, Ben Towle, The Daily Cross Hatch, Zack Smith and the Cool Kids Table, a new blog by Marvel’s Ben Morse, DC’s Rickey Purdin and freelancer Kiel Phegley.
• Laura Hudson, meanwhile, returns from SPX wanting to break up with mainstream superhero comics. “Coming directly off of my weekend at SPX, as well as recently reading a string of excellent, engrossing non-superhero graphic novels like Skim, Swallow Me Whole, and Alan’s War, picking up a comic book like Nightwing #149 feels a lot like shutting my hand in a car door,” she says. “And I’m thinking — I’m thinking I should stop doing that.”
• Wayne Alan Harold has pictures from the Mid-Ohio Con.
• Fortress of Fortitude remembers Ann Nocenti’s awesome run on Daredevil.
• SLG is now accepting digital submissions. SLG chief Jennifer de Guzman also has some tips for what she looks for in a submission.
• Todd Dezago, writer of Perhapanauts, is holding a scary story contest on his blog.
• And finally, blogger Sean Kleefeld looks at online comics that are eventually published in print form and the “extras” that they add to the print version.
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