By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/21/2016
Deep in the grubby sump of one of those so-called ‘Social Media’ sites, there is a clump of aging comics fanboys called The Really Very Serious Alan Moore Scholars’ Group, known to its sad and lonely adherents as TRVSAMSG. When they’re not annotating everything in sight, or calling down ancient evils on the heads of […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/17/2015
Today, digital publisher Panel Syndicate released the second and final volume of writer Brian K. Vaughn’s (Saga, Y: The Last Man) and artist Marcos Martin’s (The Amazing Spider-Man, Batgirl: Year One) webcomic, The Private Eye. Collecting issues 6-10 of the series, The Private Eye continues to follow the story of Patrick Immelman, a private investigator working in 2076 after every luddite’s worst fear is realized and The Cloud is compromised, leaving many identities exposed, the internet in shambles, and people incredibly guarded over their personal information.
The series has been released on a pay-what-you-want basis from issue to issue, meaning that you could read the series for free or donate several billion dollars per issue if you felt like Vaughn and Martin deserved personal islands. Panel Syndicate was founded by Martin in 2013 and when the first issue of The Private Eye was released in March of that year, the company received a great deal of critical acclaim for providing high pedigree content to the public on an egalitarian pricing scale. At the time, pay-what-you-want was a relatively new idea in mainstream media, but since then studies have shown that PWYW can cause the average price paid for a product to drop or can even shame consumers out of purchasing a product altogether.
ding.
Given The Private Eye‘s unique standing in the comics industry, it would be interesting to see what the sales data looks like for the series. Vaughn and Martin are currently working on a new project for Panel Syndicate, so even if they aren’t making a profit off of this book, it’s great to see that they believe in the concept and community enough to continue to support their progressive ideals. Perhaps they deserve those islands after all.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/18/2014
The good news is that a new issue of THE PRIVATE EYE is available. This webcomcis by Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Munsta Vicente posits a world where an eruption in the cloud has made privacy the most valued social element.
Oh did you say “torn from today’s headlines”? When this started running last year it seemed a little farfetechd but after the burst cloud hgas spilled all of our secrets, BKV looks prescient again.
THE PRIVATE EYE is run on a “pay what you want” DRM-free download scheme, and it seems that readers want to pay quite a bit. Vaughan announced that the book has already sold more than six figures in both issues and in dollars:
Even though readers can still pay whatever they want for our DRM-free files (including nothing!), artist Marcos Martin, colorist Muntsa Vicente and I are proud to reveal that The Private Eye is already well into the six figures for both issues downloaded AND dollars earned… and that’s without advertising, corporate backers, Comixology-like distributors, or even a Kickstarter campaign. It’s all because of small contributions from readers around the world, so sincere thanks again for your coverage of our ongoing experiment.
Given that there are NO MIDDLE men for The Private Eye, that’s six figures of pure profit for well deserving creators.
Vaughan has been teasing an expansion of the Panel Syndicate tem for a while, and in his email he nopted:
And we’re also excited to say that we’ve just received the first issue of our NEXT new series at Panel Syndicate, by a very surprising creator we’ll be announcing soon. Stay tuned.
For now, please enjoy Marcos’ striking cover for #8, featuring Gramps, an elderly Millennial struggling to make sense of the year 2076…
By: Jen Robinson,
on 6/24/2014
Book: The Prince of Venice Beach
Author: Blake Nelson
Pages: 240
Age Range: 12 and up
Cali is an engaging protagonist who should appeal to teen readers. He has a lot of autonomy (Hope is not a parental figure in any way). He knows how to take care of himself, and he tries to do the right thing. But he's a street kid, and he definitely runs into trouble sometimes, too. He's also remarkably uneducated compared with your maintstream YA protagonist (he's not even sure if Austria is a country). He's different, and that makes him interesting.
Although The Prince of Venice Beach does involve a mystery, and has some action scenes (fights, chases), it's also quite relationship-driven. There's Cali's friendship with a young friend of Hope's, his complex relationship with Reese, and his protective attempts to help a new homeless girl on the scene. And it's a bit of a coming-of-age story for Cali, too, as he decides what he wants to do with his life, and even starts to take a course towards his GED. I found it a nice mix, and a quick read. I read it in a single sitting, and thought that Nelson's prose flowed well.
Here's Cali musing on a runaway that he's looking for:
"He'd probably enjoyed his new freedom for the first couple days. Away from authority, from teachers and parents. But then the freedom gets to you. And the isolation. No family. No friends. Not even a dog. How many times can you go to McDonald's and eat cheeseburgers by yourself? How many days can you spend on the beach? How many nights can you sleep in your car? Not as many as you think." (Chapter Three)
The Prince of Venice Beach isn't entirely realistic, of course, but it does offer a YA-appropriate version of a private eye novel. Cali would, I think, admire Veronica Mars, were he ever to run across her. It has a unique premise and strong main character, a well-defined setting, and a fair bit of action. Recommended for teens (boys and girls) and escapist-leaning adults.
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (@LBKids)
Publication Date: June 3, 2014
Source of Book: Advance digital review copy from the publisher
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This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links (including linked book covers) may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).
© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/19/2013
Mega surprise! Over at http://panelsyndicate.com you can now buy the first issue of Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s The Private Eye for any price you want. Much like the Louis CK or Radiohead model, the first issue is available to purchase “at a price of your choosing”. The first issue, coloured by Muntsa Vicente, is available right now! Flippin’ eck, everybody!
Billed as a private eye story for mature readers – sorry kids – Private Eye #1 stands at 32 pages long. This was only teased a day ago, and it’s a massive surprise to see it already go live. We’ll bring you a review as soon as possible!
Right, a quick update now I’ve read it – once you buy the comic, you have the option of reading it in English, Spanish, or Catalan – beyond anything else, this actually strikes me as one of the most notable parts of this project. Making a comic available online isn’t the most shocking move nowadays, even for creators as well known as Vaughan and Martin. But making your comic immediately available in several languages? That’s very canny indeed.
By: Debbie Ridpath Ohi,
on 11/7/2007
From the Inkygirl archives:
Toasted Cheese Dead Of Winter Writing Contest is now open. Fiction stories, with supernatural elements or themes. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: $20 for first, $15 for second, $10 for third. Deadline: December 21st. See the bottom of the Toasted Cheese Guidelines page for details.
Please note: I generally only publish info about writing contests with no entry fee and who offer cash or cash-equivalent prizes.
I can’t remember him ever mentioning a non-anglophone writer among his favorites – and rarely refers to them on his own work.
[…] from another recent interview, here are some excerpts from Alan Moore’s praise for fellow Purgatorio stablemate Kieron […]