By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/9/2016
While there are thousands of comic-cons around the world, there is still only one Comic-Con, and that’s the one in San Diego. Comic-Con International, the non-profit organization that runs the big show has been upping its profile a bit in the last year or so, with their Comic-Con HQ SVOD channel, art exhibits at the […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/26/2015
Comixology’s Submit portal is a way for independent and self published digital comics to get onto the largest digital comics service out there, and many people have taken advantage of it. While no one seems to have gotten rich off it, a sale is a sale. And COmixology has just released a list of the top 25 sellers for 2014, topped by Gail Simone and Jim Calafiore’s Leaving Megalopolis. This superheroes with a twist story was originally Kickstarted. The impressive Testament Omnibus by Douglas Rushkoff and a bunch of awesome artists was second, and Joe Benitez’s Lady Mechanika was #3. Severl anthologies Kickstarted by the tireless C. Spike Trotman were also on the list…she is a powerhouse.
There are some excellent comics by top creators on the list, so the lesson for how to be successful on Submit it…be totally excellent.
Here’s the full list of the Top 25 comiXology Submit Titles of 2014:
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/6/2014
The first trailer for the final Peter Jackson movie set in Middle Earth has been released, and it seems The Hobbit; The Battle of the Five Armies will be a three hour battle scene between small dots representing orcs and small dots representing elves. Along the way Lee Pace, Richard Armitage, Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom and many other hot hot guys will glower and look sad while getting shouty about who gets to battle where.
I’m there.
This trailer significantly DOWNPLAYS the whole White Council storyline, in which Galadriel, Gandalf, Saruman and some buds go to Dol Guldur and mix it up with Sauron in an early form known as The Necromancer. This is pretty much the money shot of the whole, endless, Dwarf-farting, Elf-singing, people of Laketown-cowering, Thorin-squabbling, Kili-flirting trilogy. Also downplayed….SMAUG.
The final episode of The Hobbit totes has the best scenes, what with the arrows and the burning and the fighting and the casting out and all that. But it’s been such a loooong journey here…
A’i na vedui, Dúnadan!
The Hobbit; The Battle of Five Armies opens on December 17th, 2014.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/17/2012
This year’s Small Press Expo, to be held September 15-16 in Bethesda, has one of the most amazing guest line-ups in forever, with Jaime Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Francois Mouly, Adrian Tomine and MORE. Programming director Bill Kartalopoulos has out done him self with a program that covers all the bases and more. Suffice to say we’ll be glued to the two programming tracks.
British Comics: Does it Translate?
11:30 am | White Flint Auditorium
The UK has a deep comics tradition of both mainstream and alternative production, and has seen a recent resurgence in the hands of enterprising young artists and a new breed of publishers with an international outlook. Panelists Nick Abadzis (Laika, Hugo Tate), Sam Arthur (Nobrow), Glyn Dillon (The Nao of Brown), Ellen Lindner (Undertow), and Luke Pearson (Everything We Miss) will discuss the British comics landscape and its connections to European and American comics culture with critic Rob Clough.
Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby and the American Clear Line School
12:00 pm | Brookside Conference Room
In a canny mix of fantasy and satire, amplified by the clean minimalism of Crockett Johnson’s line, Barnaby (1942-1952) expanded our sense of what comics can do. Though it never had a mass following, this tale of a five-year-old boy and his endearing con-artist of a fairy godfather influenced many. To mark the launch of The Complete Barnaby, Dan Clowes, Mark Newgarden, Chris Ware, and the book’s two co-editors — Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds and Crockett Johnson biographer Philip Nel — discuss the wit, the art, and the genius of Barnaby.
Jaime Hernandez: The Love Bunglers
12:30 pm | White Flint Auditorium
Jaime Hernandez and his brothers launched the alternative comics era with their epoch-defining series Love and Rockets. From 1981 to the present, Hernandez has produced a singular body of work tracing the life of Maggie Chascarillo and her vast network of friends, family, neighbors, rivals and lovers. In recent years, Jaime has, again, broken new ground with brilliant comics novellas that remain accessible to new readers while building upon years of narrative to invest his stories with a profound emotionality. He will discuss his work with artist Frank Santoro.
Publishing During the Apocalypse
1:00 pm | Brookside Conference Room
It is the best and worst of times for small press publishers. As the greater publishing industry faces major economic contractions and challenges from new media, smaller publishers must navigate the same difficult waters with fewer resources, while taking advantage of the opportunities that arise in times of turmoil. Leon Avelino (Secret Acres), Box Brown (Retrofit Comics), Anne Koyama (Koyama Press), and John Porcellino (King-Cat/Spit and a Half) will discuss the current publishing landscape with comics journalist Heidi MacDonald.
Françoise Mouly: A Groundbreaking Career
1:30 pm | White Flint Auditorium
In 1980 Françoise Mouly co-founded RAW Magazine, the groundbreaking avant-garde comics anthology she co-edited with Art Speigelman. In 1993 she became Art Editor of The New Yorker, choosing and developing the iconic magazine’s cover images in an ongoing national conversation on the issues of the day. In 2008 she launched TOON Books: an2 Comments on SPX announces incredible programming slate, last added: 8/17/2012Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/12/2011
Not too long ago, we presented for your amusement several videos recapping the rather appalling events of Avengers #200, in which Ms. Marvel was kidnapped, drugged and forcibly impregnated, and after giving birth to a reincarnation of her rapist, went off with him in a happy daze. The writers on the story are listed as Jim Shooter, David Michelinie, Bob Layton and George Pérez but it’s been noted that in the years since, no one has actually taken credit for coming up with the story. It’s like that one round of blanks in the firing squad — every man can believe he is the innocent one.
Now over on his blog Jim Shooter has come out and confirmed that he’s wiped the entire incident from his memory:
I found my copy of Avengers #200. I read it. I agree with the consensus, it’s heinous. But, I don’t remember much about how it got that way.
I am credited not only as Editor in Chief but as one of the co-plotters. However, I didn’t see anything in the book that jogged my memory. No bits that I remember suggesting. No corrections of the sort I might have made to a plot passed before me.
But I did see many things I would have had changed if I’d seen the plot. For instance, leaving aside the Ms. Marvel mess for the nonce: Iron Man thinks it’s okay for the weird, mysterious child to be given a “laser torch” and electronic equipment so he can build a machine. What?! As the massive machine is being assembled, no one bothers to question what it is or does. What?! Trouble ensues. No kidding, really? Good grief.
There is perhaps some comfort all thes years later in knowing that Shooter offers a flat out apology:
But, in those days, in any case, the buck stopped at my desk. I take full responsibility. I screwed up. My judgment failed, or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. Sorry. Avengers #200 is a travesty.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/6/2011
Looks like some of the New 52 Issue Twos are rolling out. Artist Adam Hughes tweeted:
My cover to @GailSimone ’s BATGIRL#2, coming in October! Read this comic cos Batgirl’s way cuter than Batman!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 5/27/2011
Marvel editor Steve Wacker was tweeting some art earlier in the day, including rather nice page by Emma Rios on the Cloak & Dagger Spider-Island tie-in. Clickee for largee!
Wacker also tweeted some editorial reorg, with his office consisting of Tom Brennan, Rachel Pinnelas, Ellie Pyle and Sebastian Girner. Alejandro Arbona has moved to Tom Breeevort’s office.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 5/18/2011
Kazu Kibuishi’s AMULET series has been a strong seller for Scholastic and also a strong candidate for the next graphic novel series to get a big movie bump — IF the movie gets made. But it still seems to be in active development. Variety reports that hot writer Rob Edwards has been brought in to work on the script. The AMULET series — the fourth book AMULET #4: THE LAST COUNCIL
Meanwhile, despite our needling Robert Zemeckis just yesterday about his many failed mocap movies, he’s still in the game with ANIMATED AMERICAN also getting a script by Edwards. This movie concerns an animated child who is raised by a real family and the hilarious family shenanigans that ensue.
Kibuishi has been working on the AMULET series for several years now and it’s definitely on of the sleeper hits of the YA graphic novel boomlet. It’s also an excellent yarn that has gotten better and better as it’s gone along.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/20/2011
When he isn’t doing stunning art for comics, Jock has a busy career doing concept art for motion pictures as well. He’s just released some concept art/posters for HANNA, the well-reviewed film starring Saoirse Ronan as a 16-year-old trained assassin.
Click for larger versions.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/12/2011
INTERVIEWS
§ Adrian Tomine is grilled at Gothamist:
Many of your characters are misanthropic misfits figuring out how to communicate with and care for other people, but ultimately there is an optimism that comes through, especially in Scenes, because it is about a happy couple going on to happy things. Do you believe in peoples’ ability to transcend their individual neuroses and connect? I think it’s too risky to make a broad statement in either direction. A lot of people have said this book caught them by surprise, that it’s coming from a completely different worldview than my other books. Both points of view have existed in my mind. I guess, in my life, I’ve just known people who— there’s no one path. I know a lot of people who have made amazing turnarounds and made a reversal of fortune and people who have stayed completely the same their entire lives. It’s unpredictable. I’m glad to be able to add this book to the pile of stuff I’ve put out into the world. It does represent a realistic facet of some people’s life, certainly of mine.
§ At Suicide Girls, Elaine Lee talks STARSTRUCK:
We’ve been told “Starstruck was ahead of its time,” which usually just means “no money for creators!” There were actually some comics fans who were furious that we had a non-linear story, as no one in American comics was doing that at the time. And we had an “ensemble cast” of characters, many of them female, rather than one main guy. These days, with popular TV shows like Lost and Heroes, people are used to non-linear stories. Remember, when Starstruck first came out, there was no Buffy the Vampire Slayer, no Xena Warrior Princess, no Power Puff Girls. Few fantasy/sci-fi/horror movies with strong female leads, like Underworld or the Resident Evil series. People thought we had some political agenda, because we had a lot of female characters. Now it’s not unusual.
§ Ian Burns talks to Leslie Stein:
BURNS: So then you moved in with a guy who had an enormous comic collection, right? STEIN: That was when I was in Chicago. After I graduated high school I moved out of my mom’s house a couple days later with a couple guys in this really really bad neighborhood in Chicago. And I couldn’t really leave the house, actually. I really couldn’t. One of the guys I lived with had a huge trunk of comics, and he had tons and tons of alternative comics in there, and I went crazy and went through all of them and was really excited by them. I would try to draw some of them. So that’s how I learned a lot about R. Crumb and Dan Clowes and, you know a bunch of underground alternative comics artists.
THE BIZ:
§ What’s a Transmedia, anyway? 3 Comments on Kibbles ‘n’ Bits — 4/12/11, last added: 4/12/2011
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/27/2011
An astonishing icepunk adventure by the great French cartoonist Jacques Tardi is coming in March
Bonus: editor/translator Kim Thompson tells why it was chosen
:Three reasons. First, I like the idea of picking from all periods of Tardi’s career and this, being just his third graphic novel, nicely extends the range. (The one after that will be literally his most recent book.) Second, I like the fact that it’s so visually distinctive, and I like its historical importance as an early steampunk — or “icepunk” as I like to call it — work of comics. And third… well, the third reason I can’t actually tell you. It will become clear eventually.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/21/2011
The first new Wagon Christ album in 7 years (!) is due March 14th: Toomorrow
He has no webpage, no Facebook, no Twitter. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t done an interview in four or five years. He never comes to the US to DJ, (although he did once, five years ago, and I went.) He is a total mystery to me. He has nothing to say for himself but hours and hours of music that make you laugh and feel good.
I actually wrote this post just to see if I could embed this mp3. And I can! Enjoy!
Wagon Christ – Manalyze This! by Ninja Tune & Big DadaPS: here’s the website for cover artist Celyn Braizer’s website
— a video is in the works!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/19/2011
After months of speculation we now know that Christopher Nolan isn’t giving up the Batman franchise without going into the sexy feminine side of the myth: Anne Hathaway will play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises — and yes that sounds pretty dirty. And the previously announced Tom Hardy will play back-breaker Bane, an escaped criminal who gets super strength after getting jacked on drugs. (Bane was responsible for breaking Batman’s spine in a 90s comics storyline.)
Hathaway joins a storied list of Catwomans, from Julie Newmar through Michelle Pfeiffer. (Let’s not mention Halle Berry…oops…) She doesn’t have much action star vibe, but that’s what CGI is for…and she would definitely look adorable in kitten ears. Somehow, we doubt Nolan’s vision includes kitten ears, however.
We’re big Tom Hardy fans here, so as long as he gets good and pumped up to play Bane, we’re all on board.
With two of Batman’s most important nemeses in the third film, Nolan looks on track to break the “third film curse” — if all goes as well as it could, this will be one easily the best superhero film trilogy of all.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/13/2011
Photographed by Luigi Novi
[Little more than a week ago, Marvel announced a big change at the top, with VP, Executive Editor Axel Alonso being promoted to the role of Editor-in-Chief. A ten-year Marvel veteran, Alonso originally forged his name as one of the best regarded editors of the modern era during a stint at DC's Vertigo imprint where he developed 100 Bullets and won a reputation as an editor of thought-provoking action who got career-defining work from writers like Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello. As one of the main players at the Jemas/Quesada Nü-Marvel, he continued to make waves, introducing a gay Rawhide Kid, editing the acclaimed Peter Milligan/Mike Allred X-Statix and revitalizing such characters as Luke Cage and the Hulk. In recent years he's continued to bring in new talent, including a bevy of crime fiction writers like Victor Gischler and Duane Swierczynski. It's a strong creative portfolio for someone coming to the position and seeing how Alonso makes his mark on perhaps the most fabled job in comics will be one of the most important stories of the next few years. Despite his busy, busy schedule, Alonso very graciously made time this week to answer some of the main questions facing any comics industry executive in these interesting times.]
THE BEAT: Not to put any pressure on you, but you’re becoming the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics at, arguably, one of the most transitional periods in comics history. On the plus side, you’ve had some time to think about it, since your promotion has been in discussions for a little while. How do you see the job of editor-in-chief in this time?
ALONSO: It’s certainly a challenging period to inherit the position. I think that I take a lot of comfort from the fact that I’m not alone. I’ll be working with people who I’ve worked with for the last 10 years who’ve demonstrated year and in and year out their expertise. The interesting thing for me in this next month or longer is taking a peek behind the curtain and indeed having the time to look at the bigger picture. In that regard, 10 years ago I left a small imprint at DC Comics to come into the heart of mainstream comics. There was incredible pressure by the publisher at that time to bring my rolodex and my ideas to superheroes where I had never worked before, and to get sales. So in that regard, it’s not the first time I’ve faced a daunting challenge and gotten my bearings. But it starts with listening and talking to other people on staff starting with Joe [Quesada] and Dan [Buckley] and Ski [James Sokolowski] and of course the writers and consultants I work with, people like Bendis and Loeb.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/18/2010
Moore is 57 years old today, and it gives us a great excuse to post this illo by Dylan Horrocks of Moore as Tom Strong.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/16/2010
Just as a reminder, James Jean has an art blog. Above, a painting of musician Devendra Banhart.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/11/2010
Paul Pope examines the ligne clair of Paul Rivoche as revealed in Mister X.
BTW, Rivoche is still doing some nice stuff.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/4/2010
[In recent weeks there's been much discussion of comics pricing, and both Marvel and DC have made changes to their pricing levels in order to face the realities of the current economic climate. While DC has announced an across the board roll-back of prices from $3.99 to $2.99, Marvel's policy announcements have been somewhat less clear. At the ICV2 conference last month marquee-President Sales & Circulation David Gabriel announced a rollback on selected titles, but no details. In addition at a retailer meeting, Marvel announced that they would be putting out fewer titles. An interview earlier this week with VP-executive editor Tom Brevoort made it clear that the rollback was limited but left details to Gabriel.
In order to clear up what Marvel's policies are in regards to pricing, Gabriel and Chief Operating Officer Jim "Ski" Sokolowski sat down for an interview, discussing some of the business realities of publishing, the growth of digital and how to reach new readers as older ones cycle out.]
THE BEAT: Just to give this some background, at the ICv2 digital conference and Diamond retailer breakfast you made some statements about pricing changes at Marvel and there has been controversy about just what that announcement entailed. So can you explain the details of the price rollback?
DAVID GABRIEL: The pricing structure is that for limited series in the Marvel Universe that we roll out, we will price as many of those as we can for $2.99 for a 32 page book.
THE BEAT: What would be the factors that would affect whether they can be priced at the lower price?
GABRIEL: If someone has 30 pages they want to put into those stories or [special issues], especially a one-shot, those will be at $3.99 as they have been. If there is back up material, the book will be at the higher price. If a series is already is in the works, again, we never made any announcement that we were lowering prices on series that were out already. If the first issue has been solicited at $3.99, the second issue will be at $3.99. There’s not a strict policy thing that we’re lowering everything to $2.99 but there will be pricing structures that will help everyone stay profitable.
THE BEAT: So with a marquee title like a Spider-man or Avengers, it would be at the higher price point so everyone can make as much money as possible, if the sales warrant it.
GABRIEL: Yes, and where we did listen to retailers and the industry months back, most people will agree that that is an okay pricing strategy. I’ve never heard anybody argue about that. Where I have heard them argue is that if we have too many titles coming out at that price, some of the bottom titles that aren’t marquee titles are going to get dropped. Some of the other titles that we want people to sample, that aren’t necessarily the marquee titles, are still going to get stomped on a bit. The titles that people aren’t testing or trying them out. They are the first ones people won’t pick up, if they are a non-marquee title, at $3.99 and we definitely recognize that we need to fix something on those books. Bringing back $2.99 for limited series, that’s where we started that program.
This is for limited series in the Marvel Universe. We’ve got limited series that are third party licensed books, they will stay at $3.99 and the Ultimate line is still our marquee line—it’s staying where it is. There may be a few limited series that will still ge
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/2/2010
Day Two of Preview month features is the Xeric Grant-winning Lone Pine by Jed McGowan, which looks like your typical duo-tone indie comic but turns into a mystery set in the deep dark woods.
A distraught man retreats to the woods with a simple question on his mind: why did his last relationship end? He’s soon deep in a world of cryptic messages, shadowy figures, guns and philosophical crisis. A page-turning mystery told with exciting formal invention, Lone Pine is Jed McGowan’s debut graphic novel and a 2010 Xeric winner.
details: 2C cover 168 2C pages 6.5 ” x 9.5 ” SC $15.00 US funds ISBN 978-1-935233-07-7 Shipping November 2010 Diamond order code: SEP10 0742
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/27/2010
Witchlands is a long-brewing ongoing series by Kurt Busiek and artist Conner Willumsen, which has been delayed by this and that and then was planned to come out from Wildstorm but is now coming out from…parts unknown. Whoever is publishing it, it’s going to look great, as Busiek has just posted a few preview pages. Willumsen has long been a Beat Future Star pick, and the cover by Zachary Baldus is equally fabulous.
We did contact Busiek to ask about the publishing situation and he said that while it was planned to come out from WildStorm, following that imprint’s shuut-down, “it will likely be coming from somewhere else within DC.”
Originally announced as a book called American Gothic, Withlands will be a wide-ranging fantasy, as Busiek told CBR in 2009
American Gothic is a wide-ranging series about magic and myth, set in America and dealing with American mythology as a setting, a context for a wide variety of stories. We’ll cover things from the story of a long haul trucker whose wife died when he was on the road, so he never had a chance to say goodbye, who finds himself driving her ghost on to her final reward; the story of a girl in an economically-depressed fishing town who discovers that the Norse god Thor is living in exile on a coastal island nearby; the story of some college students who accidentally resurrect Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer; the tale of a voodoo priest, called in to deal with the unquiet ghost of a murdered business; the story of a washed-up cooking-show host, whose quest for the perfect burger leads him out of the real world and into the borderlands of Hell, and more. Lots more.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/8/2010
Only available as an image, but all things Marvel at NYCC can be found here.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/5/2010
While we haven’t been too wild about software that delivers an ongoing rss feed of your movements, when we were approached to look at the new location based social networking platform Maphook, we were more intrigued. Instead of just telling the world where you are and what you are doing, users collaborate to create a “story” about an event using “hooks” — tweets, photos, posts, scores, wikipedia entries, factoids and so on. It’s sort of localized social networking combined with journaling, which is why we like it. Instead of having to go all over the place and search for info, it’s archived in one spot.
The good folks at Maphook have even set up a special promotion just for Beat readers. It’s a little bit of a scavenger hunt. Sign up for Maphook — it’s available as a iPhone,/iPad app or on the web at www.maphook.com and then sign in at our five designated locations and be eligible for one of five nifty prizes specially chosen by The Beat from the exclusives available at the show.
Our idea: let’s create a special Beat-reader crafted record of this Year’s New York Comic-Con. If you see something funny, grab a photo and post it to the designated Maphook New York Comic Con category — you can link your Maphook account to Twitter so it will also Tweet so you don’t miss out on any of the drama action. Create a hook when you see something interesting or notable, or overhear the perfect quote, or see the perfect costume.
New York Comic Con is just too big for one blogger to cover — even one as “mighty” as the Beat — so we do what all superheroes do when they have a big task ahead — we team up!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/5/2010
Bobby Timony of Zuda’s Night Owls provides a nod to an imagined Laurel & Hardy’s horror comedy, Laurel & Hardy: Vampire Hunters. Click for a larger version.
BTW we somehow already screwed up and posted yesterday’s piece late, so here’s a link to Ronn Sutton’s classic Elvira art.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/13/2010
For everyone wondering if mainstream comics are so tired that “the general zeitgeist seems to be that mainstream comics are spent right now” maybe this is part of the reason why.
For those too lazy to click basically, a Cincinnati retailer got the mayor of his suburban town and everyone else on board with a promotion for the story in SUPERMAN #703, where the Man of Steel, doing his Kerouac walk around America, visits Cincinnati. There was an entry in a parade, banners, flyers…you name it.
Only SUPERMAN #703 isn’t coming out in 9/15 as planned. It’s coming out a month later.
Retailer Kendall Swafford writes:
Naming names got me a lot of hate mail last time, but… I know for a fact that as of August 18th, the day DC’s The Source blog announced that Cincinnati was Superman’s next destination, there was no script. 28 days to go, and J. Michael Straczynski had not turned the script in. Gotta be penciled, inked, lettered, colored, printed and shipped in 28 days. This is the same J. Michael Straczynski that has very publicly proclaimed his love for Superman, who can’t/won’t/didn’t turn the script in on time. Famously late on Thor, never finished The Twelve, loves Superman more than any other comic character, and he isn’t living up to his end of the deal. Straczynski made me a Thor fan, and I didn’t think that was possible. So I was genuinely excited to see him move to DC and take on the Man of Steel. But if you can’t stand the pressures of delivering twenty-two pages every thirty days, write someplace else.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/13/2010
Drawn & Quarterly is also having a warehouse sale, with nearly all titles in stock 30-40% off. Lots of great stuff from Chester Brown to Lynda Barry to Kevin Huizenga.
It would be nice to know (1) if these books are selling in the thousands or just the hundreds; and (2) what the #1 books sells compared to #25.
I feel like Copra would probably appear on this list if it ever became available via Comixology, the hype continues to grow (and justifiably so).