Double Dose of Vitamin C-A -- Couldn't let today go by without pointing you to two great Christopher Allen pieces -- his year-ending Breakdowns ramble, so good and so dense I want to cut off a slice and freeze it to enjoy later, and his long interview with Tom Spurgeon on the topic of Powers by Bendis and Oeming. Tons of insight from Chris Allen, one of the smartest people ever to write about comics, and truly a great friend.

Posting of substance here is unlikely before New Year's Day, so if I don't talk to you before the new year, Happy New Year, already.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:48 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Beyond the Galaxy 081809 -- Being an occasional assemblage of links to posts and articles I found enjoyable, informative and/or infuriating.

* A succinct summation of how the Watchmen movie missed the point of the graphic novel.

* Christopher Allen (and Happy Birthday, Chris!) begins a look at the fickle finger of fandom.

* Frank Santoro loves Tom Kaczynski's comics as much as me, and understands and explains them even better.

* Christopher Butcher does one of his long-ass posts that I always love, this one about the emerging Mega-Culture.

* Spurge interviews Josh Neufeld. I am really looking forward to reading AD: New Orleans After the Deluge.

* My favourite quote of the week, from Dirk Deppey: "Wesley Smith asks why movie sales don’t translate into comics sales. Actually, they sometimes do: Dan Clowes’ Ghost World and various Alan Moore-written books do in fact see a distinct increase in sales following the release of film adaptations. The trick is creator-centric, as the books that do well tend to be made by skilled storytellers and possess novel-like beginnings, middles and endings."

* Not comics: I loves me some chicken.

Labels: beyond the galaxy, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:24 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
I'm with Rick Veitch -- When it comes to my feelings about the term "graphic novel." (Link via Spurge)

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:23 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Oral History of Marvel Comics -- I really dig this article Sean T. Collins assembled for Maxim.

My favourite quote comes from Roy Thomas: "After a few years at DC, Jack wanted to come back, but he knew he had set a few fires. Stan hadn’t been too happy about this [DC character] Funky Flashman that Jack had based on him. Jack joked, 'Well, it was all in fun.' It wasn’t all in fun."

Labels: linkblogging, recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:30 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Isotope Awards: Submissions Being Accepted Through 10/1 -- Here's the press release...

SAN FRANCISCO (August 11th, 2009) San Francisco comics retailer James Sime, proprietor of Isotope - the comic book lounge, announced today that submissions for the 2009 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics will be accepted until October 1st at midnight. "It's our seventh annual award, and I've got a feeling we're going to be especially lucky and help discover an amazing new talent this year!"said Sime, "In 2009 one mini-comic creator's career will be forever changed, so fire up your xerox machines and get ready to submit your minis!"

The five comic professionals who will serve as this year's Isotope Award judges include:

Brett Warnock- Co-publisher and art director of the amazing Top Shelf Books. Brett's great taste in comics and enthusiasm for the artform are legendary. His shrewd eye for discovering new talent has played no small part in unearthing and introducing some of indy comics greatest talents to the industry. We love Brett, don't you?

Tom Spurgeon - The editor of The Comics Journal during its best years (1994 to 1999), Tom has gone on to become the industry's most esteemed comics scholar, historian, and journalist. Often referred to as "the smartest man in comics" by at least one comic book retailer, there simply is no better place for interviews and news from the world of independent comics than on Tom's website www.comicsreporter.com.

Eva Volan - Supervising children's librarian for the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, California, the chairperson of the ALA/YALSA 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens committee, a former judge of the 2008 Eisner Awards, and also a writer for www.graphicnovelreporter.com. She is amazing!

Kirsten Baldock - The Isotope's Special Projects Director, acting manager of the Oakland Main Library's Magazines and Newspapers Department, and Kirsten is also the author of the warring-gangs-of-cigarette-girls graphic novel Smoke & Guns.

James Sime - Proprietor of Isotope - the comic book lounge in San Francisco.

The award, which comes with a particularly dangerous-looking carved ebony fossil stone and satin silver trophy by famed designer Frank Crowe, has been instrumental in bringing attention to mini-comic creators the world over and launching the professional comic careers of Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (ASTONISHING TALES: IRON MAN 2020), and two Eisner Award Nominated cartoonists Joshua Cotter (SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST), and Danica Novgorodoff (A LATE FREEZE).

Entry to this competition is five copies of your mini-comic sent to Isotope's address (326 Fell St. San Francisco, CA 94102) before the October 1st deadline. The award will be given out at a grand ceremony during APE AFTERMATH at the Isotope in conjunction with San Francisco'sALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO. The APE convention has been a forum for small and independent publishers in the industry for many years. Because of the nature of this award, the winner will be contacted in advance and must be present at the Isotope at 9 PM on Saturday, October 17th for the award presentation ceremony.

"I consider each year's winner of this award to be the Isotope's Miss America for the year and always love helping to get their work under the noses of the entire industry!" Sime said, "Oh... and speaking of which, don't forget to place your preorders for two previous winners of this award who both have new original graphic novels coming out this September, Danica Novgorodoff's Refresh, Refresh from First Second and Joshua Cotter's Driven By Lemons from AdHouse Books!"

More details here.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:19 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Hey, Look: Spurge Calls for an End to the Harvey Awards -- In one of the most unusual and compelling pieces of writing he's done, Tom Spurgeon calmly, rationally and convincingly calls for an end to the Harvey Awards. I especially agree that there's a need to pay better tribute to Harvey Kurtzman's legacy than the diminishing returns the awards that bear his name have delivered in recent years.

This is important stuff to anyone interested in the bigger picture of the comics industry. Go look.

Labels: linkblogging, recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:40 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Whatever Happened to The Comic Book Message Board of Tomorrow? -- This report card on a number of currently active message boards pertaining to comics is a good, funny and mostly accurate summing-up of the state of the, uh, art.

It does leave out my favourite comics forum, but that's okay, they wrote their own entry.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 11:53 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
New Comics Day -- It's Wednesday, the day new comics come out in comic book stores. There, title justified, I can move on to things I am interested in.

* Tom Spurgeon's Melvin Monster review is really good, and really lays out why these comics are of interest all these years later. I agree with pretty much every point Tom makes, although I did say to myself all the way through the book, "Why aren't the covers included?" The thing I loved most about the design is the same thing I loved about the Free Comic Book Day version, which is the vintage look to the paper, as if you are actually reading the old comics. Which is funny, because I actually hate actual old comics that have browned with age. I think the difference is that new books that utilize this as a design element (see also that Image Next Issue Project) don't have the texture of cornflakes and the smell of Grandpa's underwear.

* Tom also had some good comments on the end of Z-Cult FM, which in its heyday was the place to download pirated comics scans. There are plenty of better and more reliable places extant right now, but like Fight Club and Judy in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, we're not gonna talk about that.

* If you ever doubt that Sean T. Collins is sharp as a tack, check out the first two points he makes in this edition of Carnival of Souls. Ouch.

* The general buzz seems to be that this year's MoCCA was too hot and not as well-organized as previous years. I've never been, although I would love to go some year, but "too hot" and "me" really do not mix well and I am quite glad I missed out this time around. Note to all convention organizers, everywhere: If you can't keep the air conditioning at a constant 65 degrees, don't bother. Sweat and comics fans are a lethal, disgusting combination.

* Man, I wish I had one more point so I could go out on a more positive note than that. Sorry.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:54 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Post #1501 -- Hey, damn, I missed commenting on my 1500th post. Ah, well. Anyway, just wanted to link to Timothy Callahan's outstanding rundown of this past Sunday's Albany Comicon, over at CBR.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:56 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Random Notes -- I miss when Christopher Butcher used to write Previews Review, a monthly tour of the goddamned Diamond Distribution catalog. This week he posted something similar. Part One, Part Two.

When I wrote my somewhat glowing review of the new hardcover Alan Moore Swamp Thing release, I didn't realize how much DC had screwed it up (although I am not surprised at all).

The silver lining has been artist Steve Bissette looking at the project and sharing copious notes about Alan Moore's collaborative process. Part One, Part Two, Part Three. Jesus, what I wouldn't give to have a complete set of the photocopies Bissette says he has of all of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing scripts. (Thanks to Leigh Walton for turning me on to all this discussion, and also in general for being a rockin' comics-type human being. My favourite quote from him on this Swamp Thing cock-up is this, regarding DC Comics: "Is not making your creators hate you really such an impossible task?")

Noteworthy: It only took a decade, but Chris Allen has finally written about something I hate so much I am not reading his comments. No offense, Chris, I just really, really fucking hate American Idol.

I wish I could afford to go to the Toronto Comic Art Festival this (or any) year. If you go, do have fun for me, eh?

I haven't read Sean T. Collins's review of the new David Mazzucchelli graphic novel yet, but once I've read the book, I will. Two things I love are comics by David Mazzucchelli and reviews by Sean T. Collins.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:37 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Pain and Drugs -- Anyone who thinks they understand public health policy and the "war on drugs" needs to read this extraordinary essay by former Albany-area news anchor Ed Dague.

Labels: linkblogging, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:24 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Monday Reading Recommendations -- A couple of pieces that caught my eye in the past couple of days and may be of interest:

Tom Spurgeon looks at the various modes in which one can read Watchmen. None of them will be particularly compelling to anyone who hasn't read it yet, but all his points are of interest to those of us who have and are still thinking about the book's many layers all these years later (speaking as someone who bought issue #1 new off the stands).

Roger Ebert remembers Gene Siskel on the 10th anniversary of his death. This is one of those links I post and wonder if my readers are as interested in it as I am...I link to Ebert frequently, because he's a brilliant and crystal-clear critic and an engaging, top-notch writer, but also because in recent years as his health has suffered he has become even more vital and reflective a talent. This piece on his longtime friend and partner moved me more than anything I've read in a long time, and while I don't know if it's the type of thing you come here to be directed to, I really kind of hope that it is. I long ago stopped feeling bad about not writing much about superheroes, and as my interests have moved on to other concerns, I hope yours have too. I'll always write primarily about comics, but pieces like this Ebert one are sort of the real-world essay version of the comics I love: profoundly human and filled with humour, insight and a frank look at genuine life experience in all its sad and wondrous facets.

Labels: linkblogging, recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:36 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
All You Need to Know About Minx -- Here's Christopher Butcher with the informed analysis about the implosion of DC's Minx imprint.

I didn't like the two or three Minx titles I tried, but I was well aware that they were in no way aimed at me, so I didn't really hold it against them.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:44 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Chris Allen on Blake Bell's Ditko Book -- Go read Chris's take on Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko. Makes me want to read the book again. And Speedball, strangely enough...

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:20 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Batman and Teddy Roosevelt -- Check out a feature in the Glens Falls Post Star on parallels between TR and Batman, which includes a couple of quotes from your humble correspondent.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:24 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Kramers Ergot #7 Dialogues -- Here are posts on the subject of the week, at Jason Marcy's LiveJournal and a comics retailing blog called Comics are Serious Business, which I hadn't heard of but now have subscribed to.

Labels: art, industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 11:20 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
What Are YOUR Fantaco Memories? -- Roger Green wants to know, and I want you to go tell him.

Labels: fantaco, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:25 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 3 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Quote of the Day -- Dick Hyacinth on Grant Morrison and Howard Porter's 1990s JLA run:

Almost every superhero comic looks dated once you're far enough away from its original publication, but harpoon Aquaman, electric Superman, and crab mask Green Lantern are quite the trifecta.

Yeah, pretty much sums it up. Too bad the issues couldn't have been redrawn (and tweaked to remove references to the bad '90s "updating" missteps) for the deluxe hardcovers that will be showing up in stores soon.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:16 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Omnivore's Hundred -- Go play this fun food meme. I posted my answers and a link to Andrew Wheeler's original post at my LiveJournal.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:50 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Comics Blogging: The Next Generation -- Andrew Goletz's 7-year-old son is now reviewing comics on his own blog, and man, he has a lot to say! Click over and have a look.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:17 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Reflections on Japan -- Toronto comics retailer/activist Christopher Butcher shares his thoughts on his 2007 trip to Japan. Different from his excellent series of photo essays, in this post Chris kind of wraps it up with his views on why he enjoyed his stay in Japan as much as he did, and many of his points -- ease of public transit, the scale and design of the urban areas -- rub elbows with what James Howard Kunstler talked about in his book The Geography of Nowhere.

Having spent a few hours in Toronto with Chris and some of his friends (and pal Jay Marcy), it's interesting to me to note that Chris feels about Japan like I feel about Canada; everything seemed cleaner, safer and saner that it does here in Los Estados Unidos. I have thought of our Canada trip (over three years ago, now) and how much we enjoyed it nearly every day since we came back, and I would love to go back, but it doesn't seem to fit in my family's financial picture any time soon.

We're lucky Chris is such a gifted and thoughtful tour guide. If you've not seen his Japan photos, click over and read his new piece, then dig into his archives and check out the amazing pictures he took while he and his husband were there.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:36 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Kunstler Reviews The Dark Knight -- And does it really, really well.

Labels: end of the world watch, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:39 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Blake Bell's San Diego Report -- I enjoyed the hell out of it. Sounds like he had a great time, and his Ditko book was deservedly well-received. Lots of great pictures too. Go read it.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:09 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Anemic Monday Briefing -- I got nothin', I'm telling ya. Go read Spurgeon's excellent Blake Bell interview, which pretty much answers all the questions I had about Bell's excellent book about Steve Ditko, Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko, which I reviewed recently and can't recommend enough.

Sorry to hear the new X-Files movie apparently was a huge flop over the weekend. I liked it a lot, and recommend you see it if you like the series, but I guess in the summer of Dark Knight and Iron Man, it's no surprise that an excellent, character-based suspense movie like X-Files: I Want to Believe doesn't blow away the competition.

Makes it seem even more unlikely that we'll ever see the continuation -- or conclusion -- of the alien invasion mythology that was woven throughout the entirety of the series. Well, maybe they can do it in comics form, like Buffy Season Eight. Which, if it was as good as that series, I would have few complaints.

Oh, one other thing to mention -- James Howard Kunstler writes about driving up Route 4 in New York's Capital District. This decrepit stretch of lost American highway is almost literally in my backyard, and I travel it a few times a year. Kunstler's description is evocative and dead-on.

Labels: linkblogging, monday briefing, movies, tv

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:34 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
A San Diego Story Worth Reading -- Here's Roger Green's reflections on his visit to 1987 the San Diego Comicon. I love reading Roger's thoughts about just about anything, and in a week where there will be a lot of irrelevant stories with "San Diego" and "Comicon" as keywords (likely along with even worse words, like "Loeb" and "Johns" and "Exclusive"), it's nice to have a San Diego post to read that is interesting and worth reading.

Colour me ambivalent about the news that Darwyn Cooke will be adapting Donald Westlake's Parker series for IDW. Cooke's last adaptation/reimagining, The Spirit for DC, ultimately felt like a year of wasted time, with Cooke only catching fire in the last issue. Everything he does is beautiful to look at, but I'd like to see him do something of his own, infused with the energy and imagination he brought to Catwoman and New Frontier. I'll be first in line to cheer if the Parker comics are up to the high standards Cooke has previously set, because we could use another great Pop Noir crime comic on the stands alongside Criminal and Femme Noir. But given Cooke's recent Spirit run, I'll definitely have to wait and see how it shakes out.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:33 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 4 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Worst Slideshow EVER -- Click through this set of eight pictures and see if you don't agree. The tide starts to turn around picture #5...

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:26 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Christopher Butcher's Manga Prescription -- Chris's series of commentaries on the state and future of manga gets better and better, and in his latest post on the subject, he hits the home run.

So what do I want the manga industry to look like then? I think that Drawn + Quarterly has a good idea, with one prestige-format (meaning a format with actual prestige, like a hardcover book with lovely thick paper and a beautiful design, and not those flimsy little 48 page superhero comics with a spine) release of “mature manga” per year. If there were 3 or 4 publishers doing that, each with a nicely designed manga release per season (spring/fall), that’d be maybe 8-10 wonderful books per year, which I think that the market could bear, and that’d be lovely. Currently the number of high-end manga releases in a given year is about half of that, which accounts for the loud noises I make when they manage to drop.

Butcher goes on to talk about watching the tastes and purchases of young manga customers mature over time at his shop, The Beguiling in Toronto, and it's a very realistic and hopeful portrait he paints of how easy it can be to use a comic book store to build the industry you want.

I guess my fear is that the worst instincts of the direct market have already done that, that most comic book stores want a marketplace hinging on ephemeral, hyperhysterical junk like what Marvel and DC generally make their nut on these days (Secret Invasion, anything at all by Geoff Johns), with that precious, lofty 5 to 10 percent of comic book stores like The Beguiling or Modern Myths or Million Year Picnic or, closer to home, Earthworld in Albany, actually bothering to take the risk and spend the capital required to stock a truly full-service comic book store that welcomes the presence and buying power of readers of all interests, ages and genders. Those are the type of stores building the future Butcher describes, and they deserve every goddamned bit of support you can possibly eke out of your wallet.

Anyway, go read Butcher's latest post, there's a ton of great ideas and advice in there for retailers and readers alike, and it's absolutely essential reading.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:11 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Santoro on Drawing -- If you've seen Storeyville, or Incanto, or Cold Heat, you know Frank Santoro can draw like very few other artists making comics. There are panels and pages in Storeyville that I am sorely tempted to tear out and have framed. That's how well the man wields his drawing tools.

On the Comics Comics blog, following up to his much-discussed earlier post about photographic styles in comic book art, Santoro goes into his philosophy of drawing and how it was hammered into his head.

If the results are something as sublimely beautiful as Storeyville, I say it works. His comments on art are always worth reading and thinking about, but this post is exceptionally informative. Check it out.

Labels: art, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:16 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Eagle and The Dragon -- If you're not interested in the ongoing discussion here about the breakdown of the American way of life, feel free to skip this post.

On the other hand, if you are interested in current events, Peak Oil and all the other crises facing the United States and the world now and for the next few decades, I have some fantastic reading for you.

On his blog, James Howard Kunstler recently pointed to a series of articles published by the UK Telegraph titled "America and China: The Eagle and The Dragon." Writer Mick Brown and photographer Alec Soth are documenting, in astonishing detail, where the relationship between the two world powers is, and how things are going in each nation. It's scary, but brilliantly written stuff. So far three parts have been posted in the series, with more to come in the weeks ahead. I'll try to update this post as the series progresses, but here's what's available so far:

America and China: The Eagle and The Dragon: Part One

America and China: The Eagle and The Dragon: Part Two

America and China: The Eagle and The Dragon: Part Three

America and China: The Eagle and The Dragon Part Four

There's about forty pages worth of very good reading so far, and I encourage you to check the series out if you have any interest at all in the state of our world, now and in the near future.

Labels: end of the world watch, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:14 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Butcher on The Shape of the Industry -- Christopher Butcher's been promising something interesting for a few days now, and he's made good on his hints with a fantastic new thinkpiece on the evolving marketplace for manga and graphic novels:

"[O]lder customers would like a different shopping experience than trying to find the latest Tatsumi or Inoue manga jammed in-between Ultimate Spider-Man and Naruto whilst simultaneously trying to avoid the outstretched gangly limbs of sullen teens thoroughly immersed in the Universe of the Four Gods."

Much more, as they say, at the link. And a little bit more from me about Mr. Butcher and his value to the ongoing discussion about comics, on this blog tomorrow.

Update: Butcher has posted Part Two, and it's even more in-depth and insightful.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:24 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Frank Santoro on Bad Comic Art -- Here's the creator of Storeyville (so you goddamned well better know he knows what he's talking about) on bad comic book art that some people mistake for good.

Labels: art, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:11 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Ebert on Redemption -- I agree with a lot Roger Ebert has to say about art and storytelling, and I definitely found resonance in his thoughts on redemption. I think most of the stories that reach me most viscerally involve this theme, whether it's Spike on Buffy, or Bluesman, or even Mr. Arkadin, an Orson Welles movie I think is profoundly underrated. Anyway, go read what Ebert has to say. He's always thought-provoking and entertaining to read.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:51 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Good Star Trek Omens from AICN -- Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News has posted his thoughts after getting to see a few minutes of the Star Trek movie J.J. Abrams is working on for next summer, and the early word looks very good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this movie to be worthy of the Star Trek name, which no Trek movie really has been in quite some time.

And if you missed it, I posted a much longer piece about Star Trek earlier this week.

Labels: linkblogging, tv

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:16 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Go and Read: Spurgeon on Uncanny X-Men -- Unexpected pleasure of the week, Tom Spurgeon's longish essay on why Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne/Austin-era X-Men were popular then and well-remembered now. I particularly like the passage where Tom, off the top of his head, mentions some visual high points like Jason Wyngarde's revealing shadow, images that stick with fans from that era even today.

I do think Claremont and Byrne set up the reason why Colossus put on his Soviet gear and declared himself a hardcore commie, though, Tom -- wasn't he brainwashed? Maybe not in a way that convinces us 40ish readers decades later, but when I was 13 or 14, it seemed reason enough for him to turn on his teammates.

Reading Tom's excellent thoughts on what remains my favourite corporate superhero stories of all time reminds me: Marvel, isn't it about time for Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume Two?

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:11 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Ethics of Downloading -- Here's some food for thought on downloading and ethics over at TorrentFreak.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:32 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
First Thought of the Day -- I really miss Dirk. I hope he's enjoying his vacation, but man, I really need me some high-quality comics blogging.

Second Thought of the Day -- Thank God for Tom Spurgeon. His holiday interview series continues today with Frank Santoro in the spotlight. If you don't know who Santoro is, you should. His Cold Heat with Ben Jones, and new hardcover Storeyville (collecting a '90s comic in a new format) are some of the best-looking and most exciting comics in years. And Santoro's Incanto blew my mind with how good it was.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:57 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
You Got to Know When to Hodler -- Tom Spurgeon's interview with comics critic Tim Hodler is good, crunchy fun from start to finish. Hodler's taste in comics is exquisite, and Tom draws him out wonderfully well on topics ranging from Hodler's contributions to Comics Comics, to what he thought was great in comics this year. Required reading.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:28 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Tom Spurgeon's Holiday Shopping Guide -- In a word, wow.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:39 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Criminal to Relaunch with New #1 -- After two excellent story-arcs, Marvel/Icon is relaunching the title in February with a new Vol. 2 #1.

Probably a marketing move, and probably a good idea. More people are likely to pick up a new #1 than a third story-arc beginning in what would have been issue #11.

More details at the very bottom of this post at Warren Peace Sings the Blues. (Apologies for earlier mis-identifying the source).

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:19 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Hunter's Best of 2007 -- Over at Comichacks.com, Galaxy alum Chris Hunter responds to my Best of 2007 list and provides his own. As I mentioned in my comment following his post, I did consider Ellis's Black Summer for my Best of list, but I want to see how it plays out to the end. Ellis's 12-issue arc on the original Authority run was a masterstroke of tension-building with an awe-inspiring finish, and I'm hoping Black Summer is as well-constructed and entertaining a ride all the way through.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:40 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Highwaymen "Correction" -- I made somewhat of a misstatement the other day in my year-end wrap-up, saying Wildstorm's Highwaymen had been canceled. Not that I was the first person to state this, but since I also pointed out how mediocre and unimpressive a comic Highwaymen was, I got the writer's attention. Of course, even he has already gone on record explaining that, while the initial arc may always have been planned for five issues, if it didn't suck, there would have been more:

A fella could ask himself, "Why?" Not, "Why isn't Wildstorm going to do another arc worth of Highwaymen stories." I know why. Because it didn't sell. We moved a hair under 10,000 copies of issue #1. At the time, we were told that was as good a number as one could expect for a book about two characters no one had ever heard of, created by three guys no one had ever heard of. But issue #2 took a 40% dive—which would be fine if we were a movie; that's considered a pretty good hold in week two. However, we're not a movie. And it's not enough to warrant doing more. I get that. So, the question is, "Why didn't it sell?"

Of course, Planetary, which Highwaymen kind of desperately wanted to sort of be, when it wasn't aping The Authority (specifically Frank Quitely's bloated-but-presidential Bill Clinton talking to the protagonists via high-tech), was also about characters no one had ever heard of and created by a mostly unknown creative team. And it was one of the best things Wildstorm ever released. It's also largely why Highwaymen failed; it called too much attention to its "inspirations" (government conspiracies investigated by a team led by a white-haired guy in a white suit, hello!) not to beg comparison in the minds of its readers.

But in all fairness, as a completely fair blind taste-test, I left Highwaymen #1 on a table in my house, where either one of my children -- both of whom love good comics -- could easily find it, read it, and ask for more. Possibly based on the cover, about which a fellow critic privately told me "you can tell right from the cover you're getting watered down goods," neither of my kids -- who again, like good comics and are willing to give just about anything a chance -- ever even bothered to pick it up, never mind ask me to get them more. Which I would have, if they asked, because my policy is to buy any age-appropriate comic for my kids that they ask for. I'm just a good dad (and good comics evangelist) in that way.

In short, don't blame me because your comic got canceled wasn't good enough to continue past a limp, initial story-arc -- blame yourself. Or blame Warren Ellis, John Cassaday and Laura Martin, if you must deflect the blame that is so obviously yours and yours alone.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:18 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Jog on Betsy and Me -- Every once in a while, you read a review you wish you wrote. I wish I was even capable of writing as insightful and nuanced a review as Jog's review of Jack Cole's Betsy and Me. I mentioned earlier this week that I thought the book was worth reading, but damn if Jog doesn't explore why in unimpeachable terms.

I can't remember the last time, as a writer, that I was as jealous of someone else's gift as I was when I read Jog's observation that "I think there's a risk with a book like this, an admirable and informative book, to let the sadness behind this material permeate everything, so strongly is it broadcast by the collection's contours." (Emphasis mine).

Anyone worried that we don't have enough language to criticize comics as a distinct artform needs to read more of Jog's reviews, especially this one. To quote Kevin on The Office:

"Niiiiiiiiice."

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:24 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Answer is Yes -- The question, asked by Dick Hyacinth: Does Geoff Johns Still Suck?

Thanks to Dick for the props for my early and enthusiastic loathing of Johns's retarded, unnecessarily violent and damaging-to-comics-as-an-artform-and-an-industry "writing."

There's not a Johns comic I've read that doesn't bring to mind a brain-damaged middle-schooler playing in the tub with action figures while his mother begs him (to no avail) to wash out his ass-crack.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:31 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Transitioning Into The Future -- Christopher Butcher once again proves to be the smartest retailer writing about the industry with his essay on the ongoing move away from periodicals in the comic book marketplace.

His view is that of a reasoned expert with a longterm view of what he wants his business to be, and a love of comics fueling his desire to keep the artform alive and healthy. His prescription for the future will do just that.

Labels: good comic shops, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:55 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Spurgeon on The Spirit -- Over at The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon reviews the first hardcover collection of Darwyn Cooke Spirit stories. It's the best think-piece Spurgeon has done in some time, and think-pieces are his stock in trade, so click over and give it a look.

Cooke's Spirit is a temporal anomaly that demands just this depth of analysis; Cooke is fantastically talented and yet out of step with the current corporate superhero comics zeitgeist in profoundly fundamental ways. I've enjoyed the series to date in single-issue form, but probably not enough to invest in the hardcover. And I don't find myself lustfully drooling over it like I do the New Frontier Absolute Edition, which sooner or later I hope to find the cash to own. Most interestingly to me, the fact that Cooke is off the book after issue #12 comes as a relief, in the same way the end of the Millar/Hitch Ultimates did. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but it's time for it to be over, and I'm glad it is.

Which is a weird state of mind to be in for someone who loves excellent comics, and maybe points to fairly basic problems with each of the titles. In the case of The Ultimates, I think the party went on about 13 issues too long. With The Spirit, I think it was a noble but ultimately futile effort to bring Will Eisner's characters into a 21st century that only really has use for them as 20th century icons. I know I'll be re-reading DC's The Best of The Spirit, collecting many of the very best Eisner Spirit stories, far more often in the future than I will ever re-read Cooke's stuff. Cooke really should be pursuing his own vision, as Spurgeon seems to hint at, and hopefully now he will. Some icons, like Batman and Superman, are wide-open enough that Cooke's approach fits them like a glove. Eisner literally said everything that needed to be said about The Spirit before Darwyn Cooke was born. But it's no shame for Cooke to have tried and ultimately not really succeeded at making The Spirit his own. If Alan Moore couldn't do it when he took a stab at writing Eisner's creation, chances were probably pretty good no one else would ever really be able to either. But both Moore and Cooke made noble efforts, it was fun while it lasted, and again, it's probably better for all concerned if we just move on to something else now.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 11:20 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Butcher on Script Writing -- Back from Japan, Christopher Butcher goes into detail about the creation of a comic script he wrote, for the Belle and Sebastian tribute collection. Included are lots of background details, art (including photo reference used for the story) and best of all, the entire script. Click on over if you're interested in how comics are made, it's a great piece.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:47 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Paul O'Brien is Not A Comics Critic -- Shocking, I know, but it's a conclusion I came to some time ago. And Dick got me talking about it in the comments after this excellent post.

Labels: culture, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:25 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- In which I try to catch up on recent goings-on...

* I was really, really surprised by how much I enjoyed Buffy Season 8 #6 from last week. I was enjoying Joss Whedon's writing and dreading Brian K. Vaughan's arc, both because it was notWhedon and because Vaughan is generally not my cup of tea. But damn if he doesn't capture the voices of the characters extremely well, and the plot itself is worthy of Buffy mythology overall. The single off-note for me was Faith's anatomy on the final page, which looked just slightly inhuman, but the story itself is very, very good and gives me hope that all of Season 8 is going to be as much fun as the first few issues have been.

* Have you been checking out Christopher Butcher's amazing photos of he and his husband's Japan trip? They are some amazing shots. Here's Day One and Day Two.

* What are you doing tomorrow? Have you had enough yet?

Labels: linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:30 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Things Comics Retailers Don't Want You to Know #4671 -- As often as I say the direct market is a broken, inbred environment rabidly committed to its own destruction even as the rest of the universe embraces comics as a viable artform, some retailers continue to champion it as the last, best hope for comics. Here's another reason why I don't quite believe it.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:09 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Roger on FantaCo's FF Chronicles -- Roger Green's been promising some FantaCo related articles for a while, and today he delivers a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of The Fantastic Four Chronicles. Unsurprisingly, Jim Shooter turns up as the turd in the punchbowl.

Roger notes that today is the anniversary of the birth of both FantaCo and Jack Kirby, both sadly gone and much-missed by me. Both loom as giants in my memories and are thought of on a daily basis; I hope you'll take a look at Roger's essay, as well as Tom Spurgeon's wondrous visual tribute to Jack Kirby.

Coincidentally, today is also my wife Lora's birthday. I'd wish her a happy birthday here, but she doesn't read my blog, so instead I'll tell her when she wakes up, and again when the kids and I take her out for her birthday dinner tonight.

Labels: industry, linkblogging, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:19 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Quite Improved -- Tom Spurgeon pointed out this illustrated essay on how Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman art could easily be improved. As someone who has greatly enjoyed the title but is not happy with the -- balllessness? -- of Quitely's work in recent years, I found this essay quite eye-opening. I think the ultra-thin digital inking worked okay on We3, but on superhero stuff, the bolder line evinced in this piece really is called for. Take a look if you're at all interested in the process of creating assembly-line comic book art.

Labels: art, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:20 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- Just a few quick thoughts this morning after a fairly busy weekend, probably the highlight of which was a Sunday afternoon picnic at a local park in which we brought extra bread to feed the ducks, and the ducks got a bit testy when we started eating our food instead of feeding them theirs, and started biting my wife's sandaled feet. "It wasn't painful at all," she told me, "Just surprising." Apparently ducks don't have teeth, so, at least there's that. Also: They like Cape Cod potato chips better than cornbread. Very interesting.

* I posted a couple of new essays to the ADD writeblog, if you're interested in my non-comics writing. I also reviewed Warren Ellis's Crecy, which was very good, certainly better than being bitten by ducks. Which is more than you can say for a lot of comics these days.

* Reader David Wynne also got me talking about non-fiction and historical comics and graphic novels over on the CBG forum. David's a guy who knows how to get me babbling about stuff I love to talk about; you're invited to stop by and join the conversation.

* Newsarama has a pretty amazing Mike Wieringo tribute up, a week after his tragic, much-too-early death. Thanks to Chris Hunter for pointing this out to me.

* After some lengthy delays, Avatar Press is releasing a mammoth 336-page collection of Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures. The title was originally a humble, three-issue mini-series, but Avatar has added a ton of special features and goodies to make this a truly impressive collection. And in the enlightened self-interest department, one of those features is a 5,000-word (or so) interview I conducted for an NPR affiliate a few years back. We discuss, among other things, Miracleman, Moore's prose novel Voice of the Fire, and his feelings about his impact on comics in the 1980s. It's one of the best and most rewarding interviews I've ever done, and I'm thrilled it will finally be in print. Bonus: The comics in the collection are pretty good, too!

* Get out your checkbook or debit card before you read Tom Spurgeon's great, illustrated rundown of notable fall, 2007 graphic novel releases. You're gonna need lots of money.

* Check out Blake Bell's fantastic TCAF photo roundup.

* Man, I hate that I missed out on TCAF. Thanks go out to Diana Tamblyn for offering to keep an eye out for any interesting-looking items, as she did for me back in 2005, too. She, like her comics, seriously rocks.

* Chris Allen doesn't talk about what passes for "comics news" much anymore, and here he explains why and talks about some anyway. He is large, he contains multitudes. Bonus: Some Chris Allen reviews of recent graphic novels.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:07 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Idiot America -- Writing for Esquire, Charles Pierce deconstructs how the United States has fallen so very far.

Labels: linkblogging, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:43 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
A. David Lewis on Autobio -- Comics writer A. David Lewis is bored to tears by the "glut" of autobiographical comics. He acknowledges that there are some good works, but goes on at length about why he will never write an autobiographical story.

As you may be aware, autobiography is probably my favourite genre in comics, so Lewis's mini-rant raises a few contrarian hackles. But mostly I am struck by the fact that I would rather read bad autobiographical comics than any of the fiction of Lewis's that I have read. The Lone and Level Sands was one of the most boring graphic novels I've ever tried to slog through (and I tried two or three times, because obviously some effort had been put into its creation).

I also wonder why Publisher's Weekly would give such valuable commentary space to someone who really has had nothing of substance to offer the comics artform as of yet, other than an obvious and all-too-common desire to be in comics whether his comics are really any damn good at all or not. I'm sure Lewis is a great guy, pays his bills on time and is kind to small animals and children, but, I'd rather read an essay by someone with genuine experience and perspective, and not a glorified wannabe with a half-thought-out grudge against a genre he likely isn't fit to work in.

Give me more experimental -- even failed autobiographical comics any day, and deliver me from fiction writers who just really, really wanna be in comics.

Edited to add: I guess Lewis pissed off Tom Spurgeon, too. Although he does not bring in the issue of the quality Lewis's own comics, which is his right. But I think it's fair game, when Lewis expends so much bluster on a straw man argument and yet has nothing of his own backing up his claims that fiction is somehow superior to autobio. Again, I'd rather read a thousand bad autobio comics before one more dull, plodding piece of Lewis fiction ends up in my lap.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:55 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- Only one piece of news worth talking about from Wizard World Chicago...

* Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch Take Over Fantastic Four in January. The Stan and Jack FF, by the way, not the Ultimate version. As of now, the claim is that Hitch has drawn five issues, while Millar has written ten. As is usual with Hitch-illustrated projects, the talk will be more about how soon the book will run off the scheduling rails, rather than what their plans are for the characters and storylines. Me? I find myself caring less than I might have a few years ago.

Millar and Hitch and company obviously created some exciting comics with The Ultimates, although Ultimates 2 seemed to lose the sense of purpose the first series had, and by the final issue I was just glad it was over. There's not a force on Earth that could move me to buy -- or even download for free -- Ultimates 3, given that the new creative team is Shitty McBadstory and Lousy McGoofyart. So I'm well and truly done with that title and those characters.

Honestly, I wish Millar and Hitch would get their way and be given free reign on Superman. I think it would require both of them to stretch muscles they haven't in a while, and I'd guess the resulting comics would have the potential to be as great as All-Star Superman and Superman: Secret Identity, to name two of the very few great Superman comics of the past 15 years. One of the other ones in that rarefied territory is Millar's own Superman Adventures work, which deserves a far better fate than the miniature digest-sized reprints it's been collected into. Despite his sometimes grandiose claims, Millar really was born to write Superman, and you can feel that on every page of his Adventures work.

Hitch's style is so far away now from its original Alan Davis/Jose Luis Garcia Lopez-inspired look that I hardly recognize it, although it remain appealing to the eye. I do wonder if the added levels of detail contribute to his scheduling difficulties, and I honestly like his work best around Stormwatch Vol. 2 and the first 12 issues of The Authority, but I'm always interested in seeing what he does.

So I'm open-minded about what comes out of this announcement, but it would be incorrect to say I am excited about it. Excited would be if Grant Morrison and JG Jones got to do Marvel Boy 2, or if Warren Ellis and Tom Raney were working together again on a monthly title, or if Garth Ennis and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez had been the creative team for Ultimates 3.

Related: ADD interviews Mark Millar; and then he does it again.

* I really enjoyed Roger's Household Hints.

* Check out Matt Brady's reviews of the new Love and Rockets collections Human Diastrophism and The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S., and please tell me you're getting these low-priced volumes of some of the greatest comics of the last 100 years. Matt's review prompted me to pull my massive Locas volume down off the shelf, and damn, "The Death of Speedy" is some goddamned storytelling.

* Echoing my recent interview with James Howard Kunstler (and thanks for the link, Tom!), it appears Peak Oil is officially here. Well, don't say I didn't tell you so.

* If you're a blogger (and these days, who isn't?), you might find this useful: 31 Days to a Better Blog. I'm trying some of these tweaks already.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:59 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Friday Briefing -- Not much to discuss this morning; yesterday I did one of those once-or-twice in a lifetime radio interviews which went spectacularly well, I thought, and which I am in the middle (literally, I'm halfway through) of transcribing and hopefully will have up here by Monday. It'll also be on the ADD writeblog at the same time, given that it's not about comics, and that's my new repository for my non-comics writing. But it's a piece I think you'll enjoy reading, if you spend any amount of time here at all.

Something that is about comics, and that I'm happy to direct you to, is Rob Vollmar's San Diego Comicon wrap-up. I wish I'd been in San Diego just to get to meet Rob in person. That would have made the trip worthwhile all in itself. His recollections are intimate, funny and well worth a look.

Stop by James Howard Kunstler's website for a photo essay and commentary on his daily bike route. I find this fascinating for a number of reasons. I used to live maybe a mile from there, on Hyspot Road in Greenfield Center. Well do I remember the difficult hill he describes early on, especially the winter day I got stuck in an icestorm halfway up that hill and my car started sliding back, back, back...I had to sit on tenterhooks until a sander came along and left enough salt and sand for me to get some traction and get the hell out of there. Also, the route is about two or three miles from my current comic book shop, Comic Depot on Route 9N in the Stewarts Plaza, just a bit north of the places Kunstler describes. And finally, I enjoyed the piece because I enjoy the hell out of pretty much everything Jim Kunstler writes, as I've mentioned here in the past. He has a new novel coming out in March of '08, and I'll be talking about that a bit more in the days ahead.

And that is all I have for you at the moment. More next week, I promise.

Labels: linkblogging, radio

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:04 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Roger on Raoul and The FantaCo Chronicles -- My formative comics-reading years saw me buying my comics at the much missed FantaCo Comics in Albany, New York. You may already know this. Today former FantaCo employee Roger Green remembers cartoonist Raoul Vezina and the creation of the ahead-of-its-time FantaCo Chronicles series. It's good reading. I only knew Raoul from his comics and from the times he checked me out when I was buying my weekly haul, but he was a good guy and a great cartoonist, and I miss him too.

Someone should get his comics back into print. In fact, someone should get a lot of the FantaCo-published material back into print. Those were heady times for comics, and it was a thrill to experience the way in which FantaCo pushed the artform forward, in its time on the stage.

Labels: good comic shops, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:44 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Cooke Off The Spirit -- Kevin Church has the worst superhero comics news of the year: Darwyn Cooke is leaving The Spirit after issue #12.

With Cooke as writer and artist, DC has done the impossible in continuing Will Eisner's characters in spirit without wallowing in nostalgia or aping Eisner. It's been a rollicking, exciting adventure comic, and I'm gonna miss the hell out of it.

Like I say in the comments section, it's impossible to imagine continuing to buy the book, unless the publisher announces some amazing creator or creators that could do as well or better than Cooke has.

Somewhat related: I saw the first post-Millar/Hitch Ultimates art posted somewhere. I won't even bother posting a link, just trust me: The Ultimates ended the moment they were off the book (if not the issue before, ahem).

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:18 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Quote of the Year -- I realize there's a lot of year left here in 2007, but I love how this quote from Tom Spurgeon perfectly captures everything that is wrong with 95 percent of startup comic book publishing efforts:

"It's nice to be reminded that a publisher can contribute something to the making comics beyond good intentions, a childhood desire to be involved in the comics industry and a vague desire to become a movie producer."

The number of failed publishers from the past ten years that spring immediately to mind is almost mind-boggling, isn't it? Man, if I could hold any would-be publisher's face to the screen and make him study just one sentence that exists on the internet, that would be the one.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:34 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
ADD Elsewhere -- Hey, I've just posted my first essay to thisisby.us. The essay itself may or may not be familiar to you if you spend any amount of time here, but I'd appreciate if you would click over and maybe give my debut effort there some support. I just learned about this site, which pays for content based on the feedback from readers, and it looks like a great place to get your ideas out and possibly pick up some beer money.

If you like what you see and decide to post your own writing, let me know. I'm curious to see what develops now that I've dipped my toe in.

Labels: linkblogging, meta

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:18 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Two to Get in San Diego -- I won't be at the San Diego Comicon this year (my unbroken streak continues!), but two graphic novels spring immediately to mind as worth recommending to you if you're going and you see them up for sale.

* I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets (Fantagraphics Books) -- This big collection of truly freaky superhero comics by Fletcher Hanks is edited by Paul Karasik, and includes an illustrated comic-style afterword about how the project came to be. Hank's talents combine the rubbery stylings of Basil Wolverton interpreting the twisted scripting of Michael Fleischer, with a singleness of purpose to each and every script that at first seems like laziness or a lack of imagination, but by the end of the book will have you realizing in its own way, this one-track mind of Hanks's may have been his greatest gift to comics. He apparently wasn't a very nice guy, if you believe Karasik's afterword (and there's no reason not to), but in his own way his comics seem like a distillation of everything that is possible in superhero comics, and everything that is utterly retarded. This is one of the essential books of the year, without question.

* Spent (Drawn and Quarterly) -- The four issues collected here seemed somehow more monumental when I was buying them in single issues over the years they took to come out, but Joe Matt's latest collection is still, in some ways, his most personal and interesting. The intimate details of his repugnant private life when he was living in Canada are all on display, and no doubt many who knew what he was up to may be glad he's living back in the States now. Matt, Seth and Chester Brown (the latter two are characters in the book) all make up a sort of mini-movement in artcomix, and I find just about everything all three do to be revealing and progressive comics that move the artform forward no matter what their individual tics and foibles. I can't say you'll like the guy once you close the covers of this very well-designed hardcover, but if you're like me you'll find it impossible to stop reading and even admire Matt's ability to depict his own worst nature with what appears to be brutal, if elegant, honesty.

* San Diego Bonus -- Here's Christopher Butcher's Five Favourite San Diego Memories; tell him I said "hi" if you see him there, would you?

Labels: linkblogging, recommendations, reviews

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:52 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Thursday Comics Headlines -- Ach, I didn't sleep much last night. Dreams of ex-girlfriends and annoying ex-co-workers and bees, big fat fluffy bees stinging me. Bastard bees.*

So, today you're only getting headlines I am interested in.

* Best reading of the day: Comics retailer Mike Sterling answers questions from readers about the 1990s crash of the speculator market for comics. Really good. I love it when retailers share their personal experiences selling comics. Related: My son got some pogs at that comics convention in Saratoga Springs last weekend and is now fascinated by them. Hey, Mike, you got any Spider-Man pogs left in the back room?

* Dick on The '90s Part Three.

* Joss Whedon Finds Writing Comics More Rewarding Than Movies and TV. While Astonishing X-Men is not really doing it for me like I hoped, Buffy Season 8 delivers everything it promises.

* Jog Looks at Rogan Gosh, at the new Savage Critic. I haven't read this piece yet, this is actually my reminder to do so later when I am more awake.

* This is just bizarre. Have you no sense of quality control, corporate comics industry? Have you, at long last, no sense of quality control?

* I swear I actually had all those dreams last night.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:44 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Wednesday Comics Headlines -- All right, I'll be honest with you. This "getting-comics-headlines-cuz-Dirk-is-on-vaycay-and-I-thought-it-would-be-an-interesting-experiment?" I'm exhausted already, and the week's only half over. Onto the goddamned headlines:

* Abhay Khosla Posts First Savage Critics Column. We may very well all have died and gone to heaven, valhalla, whatever. FUCKING AWESOME, from the first sentence on. Note to Hibbs or Lester or whoever: The logo should be a link back to the main page, for ease of navigation. But other than that, so far, so very good.

* Blogcritics Looks at Harvey Pekar's New Graphic Novel Macedonia.

* Mobile Comics Daily Launches in Taiwan.

* Dick Says Millar Was Right About DC Needing Saving.

* CBR's Homosexuality in Comics Part Two. Part Three promises to examine "whether homosexuality is a lifestyle choice or a genetic predisposition," then presumably in Part Four, they'll argue over whether water is truly wet.

* Fantagraphics Posts San Diego Comicon Plans. If I were going to San Diego, this is the only information I would need.

* Christopher Allen Reviews The Black Diamond Detective Agency.

* DC and Marvel Fail to Top List of Best-Known Brands. Again.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 12:51 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Tuesday Comics Headlines -- With Dirk on vacation all week, I thought I'd try to cover at least some of his bases. Let's see if I can keep it up all week, shall we? As an actor said to the bishop...

* Despite All Available Evidence, Zuda is A Comic Creator's Dream Come True, This Site Says.

* What Are The Consequences of Cartooning Being Named A Fine Art in India?

* New York Magazine Previews Percy Gloom.

* Funnybook Funk Briefly Brightens.

* Bible Stories in Comics Form.

* Pekar Travels Outside Comfort Zone in Creating New Book.

* Butcher Excited About THEREFORE REPENT. I loved Salgood Sam's Revolver.

* Comic Book Resources Begins Series Titled Homosexuality in Comics. Lengthy interviews with gay creators, and creators who have portrayed gay and lesbian characters in their stories. Also: Mark Millar says Ron Stoppable is gay? I'm going to have to ask my kids about that.

* Johnny Bacardi Rolls Out More Sexist Batgirl Covers.

* Image Founders Reunion Needs Twice the Space Originally Planned. Perhaps they measured the collective egos involved before making this adjustment? I kid because I love. I love Savage Dragon.

* Spurgeon Says Tales From the Crypt Revival is "A Great, Heaving Collapse on All Levels." He's not wrong.

* What Randy Lander's Doing at The San Diego Comicon.

* Comics and More Reviews Dragon Head. People keep saying this is good.

* Rob Clough Reviews Comics Comics.

* Comicbloc.com Interviews Mike Wieringo. He says he'd like to draw The Flash again if Mark Waid were to write it. Mark Waid is currently writing The Flash. Note to DC: Make the magic happen!

* Johanna Says All-Flash #1 Not Magic, Not Happening. And I had it right here to review when I found her review, too. I was going to say something about how the book is more like a flushing away of the turd that was the failed Bart Allen Flash series than the fine meal I had been hoping for from Waid's return to the character. Like Johanna, I think this issue was narratively necessary given the circumstances, but not anything you need or want to read. Wait for August's Flash #231, Waid's real first issue back.

* Mutts Creator Opposes Animal Traps.

* Wildstorm Plans Authority-Related Comics I Won't Be Buying; Where The Hell is Grant Morrison?

* Beetle Bailey Creator's Free Magazine Sells Out.

* Editorial Cartoons "Darker and More Pungent," Says Editorial Cartoonist.

* Adult Filmmaker Who Was Friend to R. Crumb and Hunter S. Thompson Dies.

* Former Marvel Writer Lobdell Writing Screenplay. As long as he's not writing comics, I'm happy.

* Presidential Candidate Creates Graphic Novel, I Think.

* Almost Comics: How to Wrap a Burrito.

* The Pet Shop Boys Are to Kevin Church What James Kochalka is To Me, Apparently.

* Kochalka Posts Vacation Landscape Paintings. I really like me some James Kochalka.

* I Also Like This Andrew Foster Self-Portrait.

* Tuesday Reading: Abhay Khosla's Title Bout Archive. It's gonna be great to have him talking about comics regularly again, isn't it?

So, seriously -- Ron Stoppable is gay?

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:52 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- This past weekend seemed to go by faster than usual, probably because of:

* A comic book convention smack dab in the middle of it. I wish it had been one of those conventions where you come home with piles of mini-comics and graphic novels and other goodies to occupy your time, but the truth is my son spent more money on comics (and action figures) than I did. I bought three books at an "all for a dollar" table, including an Ed Brubaker Batman annual that ended on a cliffhanger (kind of aggravating) and that I soon realized I had already read when it originally came out (really aggravating). I also got a cheap copy of the Roy Thomas/Wayne Boring/Jerry Ordway Secret Origins #1 featuring the Earth-Two Superman, and a DC Millennium Edition reprint of Detective Comics #1, just out of historical interest.

* The dealer I bought those from had a huge box of Millennium Editions for a buck each, which has to be selling them at a loss, as most of them were $2.99 to $3.99. That's a shame, because that brief reprint program put some of the most significant superhero comics in history back into print, and while it's nice to be able to buy them for a buck, it's too bad dealers seemingly took a bath on them.

* I would have loved to spend more money at the convention, but I didn't have a lot to spend, frankly, and (I guess thankfully) there weren't many of the kind of things I am likely to drop coin on anyway. It was mostly back issues, and I'm not into those at all, as you might have picked up on over the years.

* Local newspapers covered the convention. Here are day-after reports from The Glens Falls Post Star, The Albany Times Union and local Saratoga Springs newspaper The Saratogian.

* What else did I do this weekend? Well, I reviewed Tyler Page's new graphic novel Nothing Better Vol. 1, and the comic whose title tells you literally everything about its contents, Martha Washington Dies. As someone once said, "I read it so you don't have to."

* Matt Brady looks at some great, silent panels in American Splendor Presents Bob 'n Harv's Comics, an absolutely essential collection. If you've never sampled American Splendor, or have read a story or issue here or there and thought it wasn't for you, Bob 'n Harv's is the one book that will make you understand why Pekar is one of the most important and entertaining writers in North American comics history.

* You know, at one time I kind of liked Alex Ross's work. Both Kingdom Come and Marvels had some real storytelling high points, and even came by them honestly. But this solicitation for an upcoming issue of JSA is enough to convince me Ross is strictly in it for the money, now, not a love of superhero comics: "Alex Ross joins Geoff Johns as co-writer for Part 1 of 'Thy Kingdom Come,' the epic story years in the making, springing from KINGDOM COME! Not a hoax! Not a dream! Not an imaginary story! Welcome the newest member to the Justice Society of America: the Kingdom Come Superman! Coming from an Earth plagued by heroes-gone-extreme, how will this Superman react to an incarnation of the Justice Society he never knew? This Superman’s world needed better heroes. So does ours." Well, this world needs better superhero writers than Geoff Johns, that's for goddamned motherfucking certain. Isn't Ross the guy who once criticized Mark Waid for his sequel to Kingdom Come? And now here he is working with the chief perpetrator of The Fan-Fiction Age of Superhero Comics, on a storyline that could not be more fan-fictiony. Pardon me while I choke on the sad, pathetic irony.

* At Comic Book Resources, Todd Allen examines DC's public statements to date about Zuda Comics, with special focus on how to protect your rights and what sort of money you can expect to make (hint: not much, at least at first) if you decide to participate.

* Roger Green talks about Albany, New York and other issues in a new Five Questions meme; I'm hoping Roger throws five at me. (Update: he did).

*Tony Isabella looks at Comics in the Comics. META!

* Comic book retailer (and all around good guy) Mike Sterling talks about the rise and fall and rise again in value of a key Marvel comic from the 1970s. This is of interest to me both because I remember buying that issue new off the stands, and more so because of what it says about "hot" comics and their grand place in the scheme of things. Also, note to Mike: Those Punisher comics that tanked in the 1990s? That had to be in part at least because they weren't very good, like most Marvel comics prior to the Heroes Return event that briefly ushered in an era of quality storytelling in some of Marvel's core titles. Briefly. Then Chuck Austen came along...

* With Dirk on vacation this week (have fun!), I thought I'd grab some interesting comics news headlines. And here they are:

* Red Sonja Ownership Trial to Begin.

* Retailer/Blogger Christopher Butcher Rips DC's Sexist, Misogynist Batgirl Cover.

* Tintin Book Called "Racist" Sees Skyrocketing Sales.

* Graphic Novels Aid in SAT Prep.

* High Schoolers Advised to Read "Something Other Than A Comic Book".

* Doug Marlette Laid to Rest

* Nerd Know-How Required to Work in Specialty Shops.

* Sean Penn and Iggy Pop Voice Persepolis Characters.

* New Site Needs You To Sell Your Comics There; Thousands Waving Cash As They Wait For You To Click This Link.

* Read Yourself Raw July Edition now Online. Go read it.

* Star-Tribune Reviews Rutu Modan's Exit Wounds.

* Christopher Allen Reviews Invaders Classics Vol. 1.

* Tom Spurgeon Interviews Cartoonist Graham Annable.

* The Savage Critic Gets New Look, New URL, New Critics. ADD faves Abhay Khosla, Jog and Johanna are all signing on to the new incarnation of this long-running review blog. Abhay talks about joining the new Savage Critic site here; Johanna does the same here. Good luck, gang!

Labels: linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:39 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Business of Comics is Broken -- That's Top Shelf Productions Co-Publisher Brett Warnock's assessment following this week's news about the possible end of Cold Cut as a distributor of artcomics to the direct market:

"[T]he BUSINESS of comics is broken. This is the sentiment with the recent announcement that Cold Cut Distributors are selling their company...in fact my experience would seem to indicate that the glut of Marvel and DC titles currently flooding the market, as well as an overabundance of weak comics everywhere else has created a situation where it's really very difficult to get much support from the retail community for indy comics, except for only the biggest A-List books in a given season."

Few are in as ideal a place to diagnose the current situation as Brett Warnock; he and co-publisher Chris Staros publish both some of the biggest artcomics you could name, such as Blankets and Lost Girls, and some of the very smallest and least likely grab mainstream headlines or score NPR interviews. And more power to them for continuing to support less major (if not virtually unknown) creators, by the way, in the face of the existing market conditions.

Warnock goes on to say:

"Clearly there needs to be more efficient methods of both retail and distribution. I love what i do, so i want a healthy marketplace. And God only knows, i'm NOT a believer in comics' sole future domain being online. I want to hold a book in my hands, feeling its pulpy goodness, the smell of ink on my fingers. And those are the kind of books i want to publish."

So, is there a way for direct market retailers and creators to better benefit from the increased readership for comics out there in the real world?

As I said yesterday, the revolution is over and comics have clearly won. But it takes time and many adjustments before that victory can be fully felt. Clearly a first step is needed.

I wonder how much would change if Diamond initiated a first-phase toward making its product returnable? A first step toward growing up and actually being a responsible, professional book distributor? It would take a lot of unnecessary risk off of comics retailers, and it would force Diamond to take ownership of its own place in the grand scheme of things. The current, dying system obviously allows Diamond to possess all the power and virtually none of the risk -- so much so that operating a comic book store with Diamond as your only source of product is clearly a sucker's game -- if not the ethical equivalent of being the black-eyed wife in an abusive marriage, shrieking at the cops "But I LOVE HIM!" as the cops haul him into the back of the squad car once again, certain he'll be back at home with all forgiven within 24 hours. Wednesday's always just around the corner, after all.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:04 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Golden Age of Now -- That's what Tom Spurgeon calls the current moment in comics history in this examination of the current comics boom and its lack of immediate benefits to some of the creators and retailers who make it happen.

Revolutions can be painfully slow; it's clear Bush and his cronies are crashing and burning at an ever-accelerating pace, but I've wanted them in prison since December of 2000, so imagine my frustration. What's happening now in comics -- what's been happening for seven years or so -- is a slow but almost-certain transformation from the direct market model of the '70s through the '90s, to a more holistic and global appreciation for and recognition of comics as just another artform.

I think we've long since reached a tipping point from which there is no return -- but that doesn't mean more distributors, creators and publishers won't fall between the cracks as things continue to develop. The best thing anyone in comics can do right now is be as aware and educated as possible about what has happened, what is happening, and what is likely to happen in the near- and far-term. That's no guarantee of survival, but it's the best and most practical way to prepare for an expanding but still-transforming marketplace for comics.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:43 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Friday Briefing -- What a week in comics, from DC's hapless Zuda tap-dancing to Cold Cut possibly shuffling off to Buffalo...

* Christopher Butcher gets emotional about Cold Cut, offering up some insight into how important the artcomics distributor has been to one of the most important and progressive comic book stores in North America. I posted my thoughts about Cold Cut late yesterday afternoon, in case you missed it.

* Up now: The Comics Journal's guide to this year's San Diego Comicon, which could double, for those of us not attending, as a checklist of notable artcomics worth keeping an eye out for over the next few weeks.

* The new issue of The Comics Journal is arriving in at least some shops next week. I'm most looking forward to the Roger Langridge interview, conducted by Gary Groth. So much so that I am not reading the excerpt posted online, although you may want to. That's right, I avoid spoilers for interviews with artcomics creators. My true nerditry unveiled! Related: I really wish Langridge's The Thirteenth Floor would see the light of day as a printed graphic novel. Somewhat related: Happy Friday the 13th!

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:27 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Zuda Doobie Doo -- What, you thought we were finished with this subject?

Over at Comixmix, Glenn Hauman has some extremely apt observations about the non-rollout of DC's new attempt to poach unwitting amateurs in their web of webcomics.

"We have no idea what they'll be launching with, they have nobody lined up that they're willing to talk about. Way to build confidence, guys. You couldn't find anybody? Every other time there's been a launch of a line from DC (Piranha, Paradox, Vertigo, Helix, Minx, CMX) there was content to go with it, to show what they were talking about. Here, nothing."

Also worth noting is this comment from myideais.com:

"I remember reading a longish historical essay about Marvel’s attempt to put out an 'underground' comic in the early seventies, which was called 'Comix Book.'

I have a vague thesis floating around in my head that Zuda Comics from DC, an attempt to emulate existing webcomics collectives, might be comparable to Marvel’s effort back then, in that they’re trying to to take on the hip new kids on their own turf. I’d like to read that essay again and see if I can look more closely for parallels."

In my original post on Zuda, I was quite explicit in referencing Epic Comics and DC's New Talent Showcase as other historical examples of the corporate companies trying to lure talented amateur creators more with the promise of greater exposure than any solid offers of a prevailing wage or (Good God, Y'all!) creators rights. There's no question in my mind that Zuda is just the latest, if by far the most under-developed and ham-handed iteration of this somewhat sleazy and pathetic scheme.

Labels: corporate comics, industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:07 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Imagine Superman in the Public Domain Since 1952 -- According to one expert, the world would be a better place if this were so.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:41 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Days of Our Lives in Comics -- Now threatening to become a meme, but at least a fascinating and entertaining one, Johnny Bacardi digs into his archives for the story of his life in comics, prompted by Dick Hyacinth's recent forays.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:36 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Dick Doesn't Hate the '90s -- Part Two of Dick Hyacinth's journey through his life in comics is up now. I love it, but I would love it even more! if he would include the apostrophe in the term '90s.

I should be grateful he isn't spelling it 90's.

I sure do miss literacy.

Speaking of literacy, I finally seem to be RSS literate, after years of struggling with why people are so damn worked up over syndicated feeds. I spent some time on bloglines.com yesterday, and set up feeds for my favourite blogs (both comics and non-comics). I even added some RSS options to the sidebar over on the right. So, yes, Johanna, I think I finally get it.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:32 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 4 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
A Life in Comics -- I love reading about other people's experiences discovering and reading comics in their formative years. Today at Dick Hates Your Blog, Dick Hyacinth posts part one of his life-in-comics memoir.

If you're curious what I might write on the subject, here's My Inner Child's Favourite Comics, which I probably need to overhaul and expand one day soon. Note to self, etc.

By the way, belated birthday high-fives to Dirk Deppey, whose big day was yesterday, but somehow I missed it. Hope it was a good one, Dirk. It's sublimely good to have you back online on a daily basis.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:13 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- Back to work for me today after being off since the last half of last week. We had no major family events or trips planned, but I knew there wouldn't be much to do at work, and if I'm going to be bored, I'd rather be bored at home, frankly. That's where I keep my funnybooks, y'see.

* Internet-Breaker of the Week: At Casa Spurge, Tom Spurgeon gets the first headline on DC's newest new talent showcase, Zuda Comics. Or is that New Talent Showcase? DC and Marvel never do get tired of coming up with new schemes to let idealistic and untested creators do the heavy lifting for free (or close enough so as to not make a difference). (Maybe that guy in Ohio that did that awful book for Epic Comics before it crashed and burned can revive it online for DC! Yay, comics!).

Tom Spurgeon wonders (with tongue firmly in cheek, no doubt) if DC, a subsidiary of the Time Warner international entertainment megacorporation, will let new creators keep the rights to their work. I don't wonder that at all. Ask Alan Moore about DC's generous rights policies. Then duck.

Of course, nothing will apparently be online for readers to look at until well into this fall. I can see how announcing it now will allow them time to collect material from Epic Comics victims hopeful creators, but that's a long time for a whole lotta nuthin' to be sitting there driving away people who click over thinking there'll be comics to read. It's also long enough for savvy would-be creators to talk to, oh, a lawyer or two about their "deal," so, hopefully they'll do that going in, so they can't claim later on they had no idea that an international entertainment megacorporation might have the audacity to put its own needs and profits before those of would-be creators with stars in their eyes.

You can be sure the comics will be progressive as all hell, after reading this quote from DC's Ron Perazza: "If [creators want to do] a straight-on newspaper strip, like a Doonesbury or something like that, great. If [they] want to do something a little more abstract, like a Family Circus that’s all in a circle, fantastic." That's right folks, The Family Circus is abstract. Is their no boundary to their imagination?

At Journalista, the creators rights angle and chances of making a splash in the already-established webcomics nation are vetted by keen observer Dirk Deppey. I don't normally say things like "vetted," but since the Zuda Comics people like to say it, why not me?

The funniest quote in the New York Times article Spurgeon links to announcing the new initiative comes from DC Preznit Paul Levitz, who must have been shocked to learn: "We’ve seen a real wellspring of creativity [by people posting their online comics], and it’s been a different kind of material than publishers have been putting out." Of course, Levitz means different from the kind of comics superhero publishers have been putting out, because only the direct market is slavishly obsessed with superheroes to the exclusion of all other types of stories. The internet gets out to a far broader and more diverse audience, which is why there aren't many top-of-mind superhero webcomics out there. But don't hold your breath waiting for DC to bring you the new Achewood or Diesel Sweeties or American Elf. Here's a thought: Maybe they would have brought you the old ones if they were all that smart and interested in the future of comics.

* Also at The Comics Reporter, I enjoyed Tom Spurgeon's weekend interview with comics journalist Jeet Heer. Jeet is a fine writer, and even contributed a couple of items to Comic Book Galaxy a few years back. Here is Jeet Heer's review of McSweeney's #13, the comics anthology issue edited by Chris Ware.

* Unlike most comics bloggers, I did not take the weekend off; here's what I was up to: reviews of the new MOME Summer 2007, Douglas Wolk's Reading Comics and the fairly atrocious new Thor #1, as well as my thoughts on Nine Graphic Novels to Read Before You Die.

* Christopher Butcher weighs in on the whole what-manga-sells-and-does-not-sell-and-to-whom issue. Butcher knows more about selling comics than you or I do, so pay attention.

* Chris Allen recommends Patton Oswalt's new CD, and I could not agree more. I gave it a listen after reading his review, and I am not kidding when I tell you that I almost lost consciousness, I was laughing so hard.

* The fine folks at AiT/Planet Lar have posted a kind welcome back to The ADD Blog (thanks, gang!) and a handy roundup of links to my reviews of their books.

* Tony Isabella is back from hiatus with a new Tony's Online Tips. Glad to hear he's bouncing back from recent health problems -- click over for his story of trying to take a sleep apnea test, because I just know that's exactly how it would go for me as well. Get much better soon, Tony.

* By the way, here's a reminder that if you prefer to get The ADD Blog posts in your e-mail, you can subscribe through Google Groups. Also, if you have a blog or website and would like to set up a reciprocal link, e-mail me.

* Roger Green looks at nicknames he's been called. I'll plead guilty to having referred to him as "Rog," though I may not from here on out, insert smiley face here. As for myself, like Roger I will also eschew revealing nicknames I've been called in the context of romantic relationships, but in college a friend took to calling me "Webster" because he thought I knew every word in the dictionary (hardly; I just knew more words than he did). My friend Jake used to call me "DOANE" and it always seemed to be in all-caps, a blend of affection and exasperation: "Oh, DOANE." One ex-girlfriend's nickname for me (I'll reveal just this one, okay?) was "Doaney," which strangely I didn't mind. A girl I had a huge, utterly unreciprocated crush on in college called me "Al," as did the wonderful older gentleman who was our building manager from 1995 to 2004. Other than those two, though, that's where I differ from Paul Simon: You Can't Call Me Al.

Labels: corporate comics, industry, linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:01 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Friday Briefing -- I haven't gotten to the comic shop yet this week -- I'm hoping today's the day -- so let's see what everyone else is reading, shall we?

* Chris Allen reviews Two_Fisted Tales Vol. 1. One of the luckiest parts of my early teenage years was my mother's gift to me of the Russ Cochran hardcover, slipcased EC Comics sets. Decades later, not having those anymore is probably my biggest comics-related regret, so I'm glad to see that these new reprints are being released. Chris's take is interesting, in that he recognizes the greatness found in the book without paying automatic, reverent homage to Kurtzman and his crew. Chris's lack of reverence and respect is one of his major strengths as a comics critic.

* Rog observes the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the most important creative partnership in history. Roger's thoughts on music (or anything else, really) are always a great read.

* Rob Vollmar reviews Dragon Head Vol. 1-3 for Comics Worth Reading. This series was recommended to me by Jim Crocker of the great western Mass comic shop Modern Myths during my recent trip there with my daughter. Unfortunately, by then, my money was committing itself to buying enough gas to limp home after a great day of spending adventuring in Northampton. Jim and Rob are both people with impeccable taste (go ahead, I dare you to try to peck their taste!), so I have a feeling Dragon Head may be one to check out.

* Also of interest at CWR is Johanna's piece on adult-male-targeted manga not finding its audience. I'll be honest and say that while the manga revolution is a delight to me -- hey, I've waited all my life to find teenagers lounging about bookstores reading comics, I'm not gonna quibble about where the comics are coming from -- few manga series have grabbed and kept my attention. I like the horror manga of Junji Ito, but it seems like even in Japanese comics, my tastes tend to the artcomix fringe. My favourites tend to be stuff like Tatsumi's Push Man and Abandon the Old in Tokyo, and some of Ponent Mon's releases like The Walking Man. I do believe there's a manga for anyone who loves comics (and probably for anyone who loves to read, period), but there's probably not a manga for anyone who only loves superhero comics, and specifically North American corporate superhero comics. The core audience for those is too xenophobic, and trying to market manga to them through Previews while they lust after Geoff Johns continuity porn is like trying to sell a delicious cut of filet mignon to a vegan.

* I have a feeling there's much more hay to be made out of further exploration of the vegan/corporate superhero junkie comparison. I really do.

Labels: industry, linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:05 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Happy Butcherday -- Via Tom Spurgeon comes word that one of my very favourite comics bloggers, Christopher Butcher, turns 30 today. I hope it's a fantastic day, Chris.

Das Spurge notes it's also Bill Watterson's 49th birthday today. It seems surreal to me that the creator of Calvin and Hobbes and I can both be in our 40s. Here's a review of a Calvin and Hobbes book I wrote a few years back.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 10:23 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Thursday Link-O-Rama -- I hope anyone reading in the U.S. had a good Independence Day. I had zero expectations for the day, and since it was rainy and overcast in my part of upstate New York, those expectations were more than met.

I want to say thank you to everyone who read and responded to my essay Diabetic Again earlier in the week. As you can imagine, I was a bit hesitant to post something so long and so personal, but it seems to have struck a chord with many readers, and I'm gratified to hear from so many people that they're planning to take a good look at their own health and make some changes where needed.

Here's some good stuff to read.

* Matt Brady looks at Dan Clowes's Pussey. I feel so naughty just typing that sentence.

* John Byrne's passive-aggressive review of Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 1. Short version: It's great, but burned-out industry pariah Byrne would have been a much better choice to write the introduction than Grant Morrison, one of the two or three most gifted writers ever to work in corporate superhero comics and a guy actually smart enough to appreciate Kirby for his ideas more than just his surface thrills.

* Dumb Little Man provides great reasons for drinking mainly -- or only -- water, and how to get into the habit. Having just made the switch to mostly water, this was of interest to me.

* The Simple Dollar on the finances of good and bad parenting. Must-reading for anyone who truly loves their kids. Your time and attention is worth more than a hundred clown-and-pony-ride-filled birthdays. Also at The Simple Dollar, all the grilling tips you'll ever need. I'm saving this one for this weekend and buying some vegetables to grill.

* Roger Ebert looks at Michael Moore's Sicko. Ebert has been through the medical wringer in the past few years, so his words are worth paying attention to. Related: How Sicko is playing in Texas.

* Zen Habits has 20 ways to get free or cheap books. I'd add a 21st: Become a critic and start your own website. Warning: You'll actually have to be at least somewhat good at it to succeed long-term. Also, you'll receive far more awful books than good ones (ask any critic), but that's just Sturgeon's Law asserting itself. Not be to confused with Spurgeon's Law. Somebody should create a Wikipedia page for that one.

* Keith Olbermann's definitive statement on the obscenity that is the Bush administration. Olbermann should be president -- and at this point probably has far more support than the disgraced figure head of the catastrophic 2000 coup d'etat that the world has been paying for ever since. The tide is obviously turning, but it's damnably slow. When will this nightmare end? Related: Maybe there's some hope.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:03 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Butcher on Advance Copies -- Christopher Butcher sorts out the whole deal with The Beguiling and advance copies from Marvel and DC in this post. Chris does say that Diamond occasionally gets it right when it comes to being a good retail partner, in his experience, but agrees with me that smart comics retailers should "source every book [they] carry from two or three different distributors and see who offers up the best deal, the best shipping, the timeliest turnaround." This is how, Butcher notes, The Beguiling "...get[s] the books in first and carr[ies] them the longest, and get[s] you the best price on them."

This explains why, in my February, 20065 visit to the store, I saw books that didn't arrive until a month or two later from Diamond, at the comic shop I was using at the time.

I have to say I am totally baffled why anyone who wants to serve his customers well and operate a profitable and growing business would rely solely on Diamond for the majority, if not the entirety, of their stock.

Labels: good comic shops, industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:38 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Pitching to Vertigo -- Over on The V, comics writers Brian Wood and Alex de Campi get into an interesting and revealing discussion about pitching to Vertigo.

Wood points out that de Campi may be burning a few bridges with her honesty, but when it comes to corporate superhero publishers, I'd vote for lots more of that, thanks. Potential creators should have the sort of information de Campi is sharing available to them before they decide to cast their lot with a company that may eventually own all the rights to their work.

Labels: corporate comics, industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:32 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- And here we are again, the start of a new week. I hope it's a short one for you, if, like me, you're living in Los Estados Unidos. Some of my co-workers took today and tomorrow off and then will be off for Independence Day Wednesday (ever notice how the Fourth of July almost always falls on the same date every year? Cinco de Mayo, too, now that I think about it...), while I chose to take Thursday and Friday off as well as having Wednesday for a holiday. I found it moderately aggravating, then that people were referring to the weekend just ended as "the holiday weekend," and yet, I have a feeling they'll be saying the same thing next weekend. Society sure has a tough time with a holiday that falls on a Wednesday, doesn't it? Anyway, it's Monday, let's briefly look at some Monday Briefing sorta stuff.

* I'll admit that I'm as much of a format freak as Erik Larsen, and in many cases -- Origins of Marvel Comics and Superman vs. Spider-Man to name two -- my fetish for various iterations of comics stems from exactly the same source material as Larsen's. I miss the treasury editions, and something about the slick paper and modern art styles keep me from fully enjoying modern-day attempts at the format like those Alex Ross and Paul Dini produced, or Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch's big JLA thingy.

I shouldn't say I don't enjoy them; those stories are varying degrees of decent superhero comics, but what I mean is, I don't enjoy them as a replacement for the traditional format of treasury editions. There was something magical about the combination of the giant size, the regular newsprint, and the fact that they were reprinting stories that (at that time) were only otherwise available in the original comics. And who could afford, say, a hundred or 500 bucks for the first issue of Action Comics, or however much Golden Age comics were going for in the heyday of the treasury editions?

* One bone of contention I found in Larsen's otherwise enjoyable piece on comics formats was this quote about the world before treasury editions and other formats came along:

"There weren't dickheads out there throwing around derogatory terms like "pamphlets" or "floppies" at these four-color wonders, they were just comic books. And if you wanted to read comic books there was one format to read them in."

I don't know where Erik gets the idea that either of those terms is "derogatory." Maybe his inner fanboy remains a little sensitive from some schoolyard beating he took for reading his Wizard of Oz treasury edition while the other boys wanted to play touch football, or something. I use the term floppy because, well, they are, for one thing and also, to differentiate between monthly, floppy comics and the world's comics of preference, those with a spine and (usually) a complete story, graphic novels. What I personally hated was Steven Grant's "pamf," which always reminded me of nothing more than Nightcrawler making an exit. None of which is to deny, even for a moment, that I am, in fact, a dickhead.

* Steve Flanagan has some interesting stuff about the inspiration for some of the most interesting moments in recent Doctor Who history.

* Matt Brady looks at whether to keep buying floppies -- sorry, Erik -- or wait for the trade. I struggle -- to use an entirely too powerful word to describe one semi-affluent American's debate over how to spend his funnybook money -- with the same question myself. When I was raking in a lot more money than I am now, a few years back, the answer was a simple "buy 'em all, the singles and the collections." The budget has contracted a bit since then, so, for example, I find myself settling for the floppies on Optic Nerve's new collection Shortcomings, despite the fact that D&Q produce outstanding hardcovers, and that I have the previous HCs collecting previous issues of Optic Nerve. But it's definitely a case by case sort of thing -- I love Brubaker and Phillips's Criminal so much that I would have to be totally destitute to not buy both the floppies and the collected editions.

* One other note on Brady's post, which also includes reviews of single issues of the pamphlets he's debating continuing to buy in their monthly format: Matt seems to think a payoff is coming down the line in the "who's the homophobe?" bit in the most recent issue of The Boys (here's my review), but I think the payoff is right there in the issue, in what it says about Butcher and Hughie's offhand banter vs. their actual actions and feelings when confronted with the question up close and personal. It's a two-person character study that I found added an unexpected depth to what is generally seen as a satirical series. Ideas of the richness Ennis and Robertson are mining can't just be seen as merely satire, and that particular subplot shouldn't be seen as just the setup for a gag, the way I read it.

* Neilalien has posted his look at what he got and what he loved at MoCCA. Neil's got some of the best taste in comics, click over to read his thoughts.

* I feel like I am really "in the zone" in this whole back-to-blogging phase of my comics internet life. Not one but two pieces I originally wrote as short notes for today's Briefing actually turned into much longer pieces that I posted yesterday: Butcher, Beguiling and Early Books and Publish and Perish. With Chris Hunter's help, I managed to finally get some of my audio interviews back up online. In fact there's so much Blogospheric Energy in my house these days that my daughter is even blogging now.

* Comics and More takes a much better stroll through Previews for comics coming in September than I recently did.

* I feel like I missed the boat on Canada Day; I hope it was a good one, Jason, Christopher, d., Loren, Blake, and everyone.

* Hey, this is fun: Can you answer these six basic science questions?

Labels: linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:53 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Publish and Perish -- As a commercial copywriter working in the radio broadcasting industry, I find one of the biggest surprises facing new business owners is that starting the business -- opening their doors -- is not enough. Startup is a huge undertaking, to be sure, but it's a total waste of time, money and effort if you don't spend an equal or greater amount of time advertising your undertaking. And I don't just mean on the radio (although that would be nice, my kids need to eat too, y'know). "If you build it, they will come" only works in Kevin Costner parables. In the real world, even if I would be interested in your efforts, whether it's a comic book or a pet store or a car dealership -- you have to tell me what you're doing, and most importantly, why and how does it affect me? This is the WHAM principle one of my favourite copywriting gurus emphasizes, and it directs virtually every piece of copy I create.

That's why I found one segment of Comic Reporter Tom Spurgeon's interview today with cartoonist and La Mano publisher Zak Sally so depressing:

SALLY: When I put out the Mosquito Abatement Man book, there's a feel that John Porcellino's work has importance. He's a really good friend. I don't think now, three years later or whatever after I put out that book, I don't think there's any question that John's work could appeal to more people than it does. But that doesn't mean I'm not sitting a couple thousand books in my warehouse.

SPURGEON: Do you do shows? Do you meet people at shows and hand sell?

SALLY: I'm finding I'm kind of shitty at that. [laughter] That's where for better or for worse La Mano's business sense, I'm finding that whether or not I like to admit it or not that's where my interest takes a precipitous drop. Working with this person on this project that I think is really great, after the project is gone, it's taken a long while to admit my interest drops. [laughs] Maybe that feeling that doesn't work to my credit, is that feeling that someday people will find out about this. It feels like I'm so busy all the time I can't breathe anyway, so spending more hours trying to convince people in a world that's already choked with people trying to convince people that shitty things are great, there's a feeling that people will someday find out about this, and when they do they'll come to me, and I'll have it for them. It's very warm and fuzzy.

It's a great, longish interview, so please do click over and read the whole thing. But that segment stood out to me as an example of the sort of blinkered presumption a lot of people who decide to publish comics (their own or others) fall into: "I've printed the comics, phew, my work is done!" No, I'm sorry to have to be the one to break it to you, but the work then begins. What happens if a farmer looks out at his expansive field of newly-ripe, sweet corn and says with satisfaction, "Welp, I'm done!" That's right, the corn rots.

Sally says he has thousands of copies of John Porcellino's outstanding Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man sitting in a warehouse somewhere, and that is a sad fact to ponder. One key point may be found in Sally's description of Porcellino as "a good friend," not that there's anything wrong with having good friends. But if you are going to publish comics, you have to approach it as a professional business and not as a nice thing to do for your friends. Otherwise you end up with thousands of copies of a great book, sitting in a warehouse.

Sadly, Sally seems to think he's solved the problem:

"The way I think about La Mano is sort of changing. The new book I'm doing with Jason Miles, I'm doing everything in-house. Every element is done by me, so my cost outlay is virtually nothing. It's all elbow grease. It's an edition of 500 and I think everybody's going to feel great with that."

So instead of doing the work and being a publisher, Sally will just print what he can afford with as low an overhead as possible, so as to not take up too much warehouse space with books he doesn't want to promote to the world. This wouldn't be quite so aggravating if Porcellino and Sally, both, weren't excellent cartoonists who deserve wider audiences. Comics publishers with obvious forward momentum in today's market, from Top Shelf to Drawn and Quarterly to (perhaps the best example) Fantagraphics, all know promoting the work is as important as creating it. All of these publishers devote incredible amounts of time and energy (and even -- gasp! -- cash!) to advertising and otherwise promoting their (you'll pardon the pun) wares.

Which isn't to say that you shouldn't self-publish your funnybook if you want, and then sit on hundreds or thousands of copies while waiting for the world to find you. Maybe that actually even happens once in a while. But if what you're doing is worth doing -- whether you're a cartoonist, a publisher, or in Sally's case, both -- please do try to understand the real-world realities of publishing. If it's good work, and if it deserves an audience, make sure you have the resources (financial and otherwise) to give it the very best chance it has in a world where there are more great comics to read every month.

Labels: linkblogging, radio

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:06 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 1 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
My Daughter, The Blogger -- For the moment, I am typing her hand-written material for her, but my daughter is officially blogging. Are there any other second-generation comics bloggers? Visit Kira.X.Manga.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:14 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Last Chance to Read Inanna's Tears Online -- Writer Rob Vollmar wants you to know Inanna's Tears will be coming down from the Modern Tales website sometime in the next 24 hours, so if you would like one last chance to read the graphic novel online before it's published in print, click here to read Inanna's Tears. Go forth and clickify!

Labels: linkblogging, recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:14 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Priceless Candy Bar -- I really enjoy The Simple Dollar, a daily blog about how to live more frugally. I've reduced or eliminated a lot of my bills over the past three years or so, but I'm not obsessed with frugality, so a lot of the penny-pinching blogs don't hold my interest. The Simple Dollar's philosophical approach and excellent writing have kept my attention since the first time I found it.

Today's post on a three-dollar candy bar is a great example of where the blog's thoughtfulness about spending meets the intangible value that can be found in something that seems too expensive. It's a wonderful post on its own, but it also reminded me of one of the most intelligent things anyone has ever written about the value of comics. Tom Spurgeon:

"I usually don't criticize anything for simply costing a lot. The only comics that are too expensive are shitty comics."

People who buys piles -- literally piles of mediocre superhero comics every week because they are "keeping up their collection" and "don't want to miss an issue" are usually the ones that complain about a comic costing "too much."

I remember when IDW began publishing their line of comics at a base price of $3.99, and some people felt that was "too expensive." But if it's too expensive, don't buy it. Nobody holds a gun to anyone's head and forces them to buy funnybooks.

What I think they really mean when they say that is, "I want to add this to my giant mindless pile of crap comics every week, but it costs a buck more than most of the other crap." I remember when IDW hit the ground running with quality titles like 30 Days of Night (I speak of the excellent, original mini-series here, I can't say anything about the sequels as I haven't read most of them), that featured not only outstanding storytelling but top-notch production values as well. Another title I've sampled from IDW that met that standard was Supermarket. I liked the first issue enough that I decided to wait until it was collected as a graphic novel, and if I recall correctly that compiled three issues for something close to twenty dollars -- more than the cost of the individual $3.99 issues, but the added benefit of being a sturdy book I can put on my shelves made the price worthwhile for me.

No comic can be objectively "priced right" or "overpriced." I've picked up Free Comic Book Day releases that were a ripoff for free, factoring in the time and effort to find and read (or attempt to read) them. Multiple publishers have tried 9 cent, 10 cent and 25 cent stunt releases. Some, like the 25 cent zero issue of Conan by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord, convinced me to continue on with the monthly title, which would have been a bargain at four bucks, or even five, because it featured quality storytelling and adventures that stand up to multiple re-reads years later. The vast majority of current series set in Marvel and DC's universes aren't even worth reading for free, as that recent V survey of comics downloaders definitively demonstrated.

Obviously if you're struggling with money, if times are tight and every penny counts, you should not be dropping 75 or 100 bucks on a Marvel Omnibus or an Absolute Edition from DC. In fact, if money's really tight, you hopefully eschew wasting money on entertainment until you can right your faltering financial ship, to brutalize a metaphor.

But if you've got a good job and a portion of your income can comfortably be devoted to pursuing an artform you love, then hopefully you're buying comics you truly enjoy. Comics that engage your mind and thrill your senses and will amortize their own expense by providing you with years and years of repeat enjoyment. I never get tired of re-reading Watchmen, or Love and Rockets, or The Authority, or Eightball, just to name four titles that I have bought in single issues, trade paperbacks and expensive hardcover collector's editions. "The only comics that are too expensive are shitty comics," Spurgeon said, and by now he's probably sick to death of me bringing up the quote whenever the opportunity strikes. But it's true, and it speaks to far more than just comic books. The money you make is the direct product of time from your life that you've given up and will never get back.

Whether it's a gourmet candy bar shared with your family in a moment of mad glee, or a comic book good enough to totally immerse yourself in, its wonders to behold -- think about your spending, and whether its rewards will be returned to you in the future. Memories like that candy bar, or a great story, will provide a lifetime of joy. Is that what you are spending your money on? If not, why not?

Total coincidence, Zen Habits also writes about materialism and spending habits today.

Labels: corporate comics, FCBD, linkblogging, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:22 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Fan-Fiction Age of Superhero Comics -- Over at Dick Hates Your Blog, Mr. Hyacinth observes the schism between fans of Brad Meltzer's lousy superhero comics versus Brian Michael Bendis's. Meltzer takes the baton as the leader in the race to create the worst superhero comics available today, but Bendis makes a strong second-place showing. The fact of the matter is, both are guilty of being master planners in the current, awful Fan-Fiction Age of superhero comics. From Straczynski's Spider-Man to Millar's Civil War, from Johns's Infinite Crisis to Bendis and Meltzer's narrative ass-rape of Marvel and DC's two top team titles (or TTTT as I like to call 'em), any informed observer of the current state of Marvel and DC's "universes" can see that the past few years are populated almost solely by events and storylines that just cry out to be retconned out of existence by creators who are actually committed to telling good stories with every drop of their creative gifts they can muster.

Unfortunately, the days when top creators were willing to give their all to corporations servicing superhero trademarks seem long past. I remember vividly when Frank Miller came along and reinvigorated Daredevil; when Walt Simonson showed us why Thor was so goddamned cool; when Claremont and Byrne were humble enough to exercise their talent before their egos and create probably the best X-Men comics ever created; when Alan Moore took Swamp Thing from industry joke (sorry, Mike!) to the most compelling comic book being published.

Creators today -- the smart ones -- take their best work to companies that will allow them to own their own work. So it's hard to imagine who the next Frank Miller or Alan Moore or whoever will be. Not that we need anyone to rehash those creator's visions or steal their best ideas -- that kind of bullshit is what has gotten us where we are now in corporate superhero comics. No, what is needed is, to paraphrase Alan Moore, someone to come along and twist the knobs to a setting no one ever thought of before. A new paradigm that makes corporate superhero comics not only readable, but fun and entertaining again.

Marvel and DC will probably have to shift some paradigms of their own, first, though. It wasn't that long ago, but can you imagine Marvel giving Grant Morrison a free hand to do what he did with New X-Men in today's market? Sure, DC let Darwyn Cooke create New Frontier, but why not allow someone that gifted and committed to the genre to just take over one of the main titles? Why ghettoize the quality stories while dosing fanboy junkies with the sort of continuity porn found in Meltzer/Bendis/et al's "hot" titles?

Another observation Moore once made was that he tried to give readers what they needed, not what they wanted. It may be a subtle distinction, but it's at the heart of what is wrong with corporate superhero comics at the moment, and why the direct market is locked in the death-grip of The Fan-Fiction Age of Superhero Comics.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:14 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Wednesday Briefing -- There are a lot of interesting tidbits on the top-shelf comics blogs this morning.

* Beaucoup Kevin investigates and concludes that Gary Esposito has been using a fake name to troll his comments section. Esposito apparently denies it, and I wish it weren't true because he's been a loyal reader of The ADD Blog. But it seems like Kevin has done his homework, and I really hate fuckwit comment trolls, so the whole thing is very disappointing. If it's not Gary, I hope he can prove it, but the evidence seems pretty damning.

* Dirk Deppey leads off today's Journalista with as succinct a description of the blinkered Direct Market mindset as you're likely to find. It's a short quote from Kyle Baker, so click over and read it, right at the top. Baker may be a bit blinkered himself, in that he seems unaware of great comic shops like The Beguiling in Toronto or Modern Myths in Northampton, to name two which don't meet Baker's "Barnes and Noble/Filthy Superhero Convenience Store" divide. In fact, great shops like those are the solution to the problem, which I believe I wrote a little bit about here not that long ago.

* Christopher Butcher gets to the bottom of the problem with MOME. Now, I have followed the series since it began and I continue to look forward to every new volume, but Butcher hits the nail right on the head. It's a hard series to explain, and his suggested tweaks would go a good deal toward making it work better in the long term and find more of an audience. I hope the powers that be are listening.

Labels: good comic shops, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:43 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Kicking Shit While It's Down -- I'd guess Tom Spurgeon got his copy of the final issue of the most recent, failed attempt at a Flash series the same way I did -- a review copy mailed by DC Comics. Spurgeon has posted a lengthy review of The Flash #13, and while I agree with pretty much everything he says, even I am shocked at the extent of his negativity.

"It was sort of like being dragged behind a boat for ten seconds after falling off your waterskis. There's no permanent damage, but it's unpleasant as all hell while it's happening."

Tom Spurgeon is more or less the best writer about comics who is currently blogging on a regular basis, and in this review he seems to me to be a bit more blunt than usual in his assessment of The Flash #13, which to my way of thinking pretty much defines the current state of corporate superhero comics: Utterly bereft of quality or entertainment value, marketable only to those who cherish trademarks over storytelling, and in fact may be incapable of even recognizing a story well told ("I don't know if it sucks or not, but I recognize that lightnng bolt on his chest!").

I know I aggravate blinkered superhero junkies who see my desire for better superhero comics as anti-superhero rhetoric. But the fact of the matter is that I don't hate superhero comics as a genre, at all. If you check out my pull list in the sidebar, you'll find a lot of superhero titles. I would love to have more good superhero comics to read, just as I would love to have more good crime comics to read, and more good autobiographical comics to read. I'll freely admit to hating bad superhero comics, though, and Flash #13 certainly falls squarely in that category.

DC sends me an occasional book for review -- not a lot, but they publish a lot of comics, and I appreciate whatever efforts they make to keep me and other critics current on what they think their best efforts are. Unlike Tom, I didn't see much reason to review Flash #13, because, well, what's the point? Not to disparage Tom's choice to review it -- he has a lot of things to say about the book and what it represents, and I'm glad he wrote about it -- but to me Marvel and DC's mainline of superhero comics taking place within their established "universes" are so universally poor that it's personally exhausting for me to spend much time reviewing them. Or even reading them, honestly.

Now, a few days ago I did review a new DC/Wildstorm comic, and my review was almost uniformly negative. But in this case, it was a first issue, and it was set outside the DC universe, so going into it I had hoped it would be entertaining. But it proved such a ham-handed pastiche of previous, better Wildstorm efforts that I found nothing much in it to recommend. Interesting that folks who mostly review superhero comics seemed to like Highwaymen #1, which says something about their critical faculties, or at the very least about the comparative value to be found in the average, say, X-Men comic vs. Highwaymen #1. The latter might be crap, but at least it's not X-Crap.

By the way, I was delighted that the writer of Highwaymen #1 didn't take my review personally, because it wasn't meant personally.

I wonder, though, how the Flash creative team will take Spurgeon's review? Did they honestly believe they were doing their best? I suppose anyone who has only read corporate superhero comics for the past 15 years or so could honestly believe something like Flash #13 represents quality storytelling. People who refuse to look outside superhero comics to all the vast riches the artform offers may think the current boatloads of shit offered up by Marvel and DC are actually the best "comics" has to offer. They could not be more wrong.

Maybe it's the editors at the corporate superhero companies, unable or unwilling to scout actual talent anymore. Maybe truly gifted creators just eschew the "Big Two" because they know they won't own their work or ever see even a fraction of what it earns for the companies, should it become popular and enduring. Maybe it's just that Marvel and DC are mostly staffed by a generation raised to think Image circa 1993 was radically good superhero comics. Whatever the reason, Flash #13 was shit. And while it's somewhat atypical for Tom Spurgeon to kick shit while it's down, I'm glad to see someone else speaking the truth about the sorry state of corporate superhero comics circa 2007.

Labels: corporate comics, essays, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 3:27 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 2 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Ten Years of Top Shelf -- Congratulations to Chris Staros and Brett Warnock on this weekend's tenth anniversary of Top Shelf Productions. Almost as long as I have been writing about comics, I have been writing about the comics they publish. And even before that, when Chris Staros was publishing The Staros Report (a great 'zine that probably would have been a blog if launched today), I was writing about them -- a letter from me appears in the second or third issue (circa 1996-97), alongside letters from James Kochalka and Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics Books, both of whom also went on to change the way I see comics as an artform.

Top Shelf has been home to some of the best and most inventive comics creators in the history of the artform, including Renee French, Alan Moore, James Kochalka, Eddie Campbell and many others.

To mark this milestone weekend, Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon today posts a long and extremely informative and entertaining interview with Brett Warnock, Top Shelf's co-publisher and art director. Please click on over and read about Brett's life in comics.

Top Shelf's story is an important one in the overall emergence of comics as a mainstream artform over the past decade, and I hope you'll join me in congratulating Chris and Brett on ten great years. I'm looking forward to the next ten even more.

Labels: industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:11 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Dirk and Comics Piracy -- Check out today's Journalista for Dirk Deppey's observations about the nature, availability and scope of online comics piracy via bit torrent sites.

"Virtually every genre-oriented comics pamphlet is scanned and posted online within a day or two of its release in stores. This includes everything released by Marvel and DC, of course, but also most of the material released by smaller publishers as well."

That's merely one of the eleven valuable points Dirk makes about this growing phenomenon. Much, much more in the link -- scroll down to the seventh section, "Digital Comics," for the rest.

I've dabbled a bit in downloading comics from bit torrent sites, and I don't have eleven things to say about it, but here's a couple:

* Many, many times I've downloaded a comic out of curiosity only to enjoy it enough that I have gone on to buy the actual comic. Recent examples would include World War Hulk #1 by Greg Pak and John Romita, Jr., and the entirety of Garth Ennis's Punisher MAX series, which I have liked so much I bought all the trade paperback collections, and then went on and bought those stories again in the oversized hardcover collections. In the latter case, this is an investment of something like $200.00 or so. Lesson? The availability of free, downloadable comics in .cbr or .cbz format can and will lead to large outlays of cash, but there's a catch.

* Many, many --the majority -- of corporate superhero comics I have downloaded are so ham-handedly amateurish and uninteresting that I haven't even bothered to finish them. And those are the ones that I bothered with, because like the vast majority of downloaders responding to this comics piracy poll at The V Forum, (quoting the poll here) "I cherrypick which titles I want to read so I don't waste time downloading crap I don't want." So yes, the availability of free, downloadable comics in .cbr or .cbz format can and will lead to large outlays of cash, but there's a catch.

The comics have to be worth reading.

As Dirk notes, the majority of available comics that you can download are corporate superhero comics. I'd submit to you that "I cherrypick which titles I want to read" would not be doing so well in that (admittedly unscientific) poll, if Marvel and DC would spend more time investing in and nurturing talented creators, encouraging them to do their best work and then rewarding them for it. Instead, they continue, decade after decade, to pander and pile up the crap on the shelves of the direct market -- crap that the V poll clearly suggests is not worth reading even when easily available for free.

There's an obvious business model for Marvel and DC to follow here, if they want to compete outside the direct market with the greater mainstream audience for comic books. Because surely not all the people buying comics on Amazon, at Borders, or Chapters, or their local independent bookstore, want to buy Fruits Basket or Persepolis or the other titles they choose; some of them would probably like to spend their money on quality adventure fiction, some of that even superhero fiction. So what's pretty clearly called for is more emphasis on quality, and less on overwrought continuity porn and bland trademark maintenance. One more time:

To be worth buying, the comics have to be worth reading.

Labels: corporate comics, essays, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:29 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Plain Janes Discussion -- I've been having an interesting discussion with Abhay Khosla on the Image message boards about the recently-released Plain Janes, drawn-but-not-written by Street Angel's Jim Rugg.

The discussion began when Abhay said he almost bought The Black Diamond Detective Agency by Eddie Campbell, but then went with Plain Janes instead. That prompted me to say:

Well, the Eddie Campbell isn't his best work, but Plain Janes is REALLY dull and Rugg's art seems especially toothless for the most part. I would have rather had more Street Angel myself. Hopefully he made a lot of money on it, anyway.

As message board posts are wont to do, that made me sound a good bit more dismissive than I meant to be, which Ivan Brandon called me on, especially disliking my use of the word "toothless" and conflating it with "hackwork," which you may or may not realize is not a phrase I tend to use much. My response to that:

I mean it lacks the vitality and spontaneity Rugg evinced in Street Angel. It seems managed, calculated, and not anywhere near as interesting as his earlier work. If someone is interested in Plain Janes based on the excellence of the cartooning in Street Angel, chances are they'll be a bit disappointed. It's good, professional illustration and that's about all it is. I didn't say it's hackwork -- that's not a word I generally throw around much, and I'm sure Jim fulfilled the assignment with as much passion and professionalism as he could. I just personally found a hell of a lot more passion and personality in Street Angel. YMMV.

Once Abhay has read the book, he feels myself and others who didn't enjoy the book very much may be judging it too harshly...But his thoughts aren't uniformly enthusiastic, either, and says "I hope [Rugg] does a 180 from this material in his next thing because... because again, it just doesn't play to how much fun he can bring to... to.. to movement...? It doesn't utilize everything he's capable of."

My final thought on Plain Janes and similar efforts to integrate artcomix creators into the world of corporate comics is summed up like this:

I always wonder if Marvel and DC are deliberate in their habit of hiring great artcomix creators (Rugg and Horrocks come immediately to mind) and then tasking them with jobs that don't reflect their obvious true gifts, but which keep them busy NOT exercising those talents for their own benefit, however much it might pay in the short run. Or, do the "Big Two" just take a cog for a cog and not even think about anything other than forwarding their own "mainstream" agendas...

There's lots more in the link to the discussion above, but I wanted to get my own thoughts on the book and on the issues it raises here on the blog.

Labels: art, corporate comics, industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 7:41 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- Father's Day has come and gone, and as I mentioned in a conversation last night with Chris Allen, while I don't think I am as invested in the idea of a perfect Father's Day as my wife is in a correspondingly perfect Mother's Day, it's still nice to be the family belle of the ball for one day. A joke comes to mind, but it's kind of gross and I haven't had breakfast yet.

Roger Green mentions it's Roger Ebert's 65th birthday today. After a few years of very serious health issues, I'd guess he's glad, indeed, to be here to see this day. I'm not much of a celebrity-watcher, but I have to admit I've worried at times about Roger Ebert recently as much as I do my wife or kids when they are sick. He's managed to pull through some extremely serious health problems, and I am profoundly grateful for that. Roger Green mentions Ebert's great gifts as a film critic, and I'll second all that. If you have any interest at all in criticism in general or film criticism in particular, you should really take a look at Ebert's two "Great Movies" essay collections. They are fantastic reading that will send you off on an exploration of some of the best and most compelling movies ever made, even as they allow you to get to know Ebert and his sensibilities in a manner that is direct, engaging and most importantly fun.

Roger Green also points out that it's Paul McCartney's 65th birthday, but, you know, his big landmark birthday was obviously last year. Roger runs down a good list of McCartney post-Fab Four songs worth listening to, but I'll spare you the top ten and say that all of Band on the Run holds up really well, and at least half of Tug of War is really good, too.

Not much to say about comics at the moment -- scroll down through the past few days for plenty on that subject -- but I will say the comic that surprised me the most last week was World War Hulk #1. After browsing it for free at The Favoured Store, I broke down and bought it. It's a good, old-fashioned Marvel Comic in the best sense of the word, and even manages to make Iron Man not seem like a villain. Except to the Hulk, which is kind of the impetus to the whole kerfuffle. Good, fun superhero storytelling, the kind of which you don't much see in either Marvel or DC's main universes anymore.

Labels: corporate comics, linkblogging, monday briefing, recommendations

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:26 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Just a Pilgrim -- As much as anyone, I was a cheerleader for Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim when it debuted through Oni Press back in the summer of 2004.

In my review of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, the first volume of the series, I said O'Malley had created a new series that "is charming, funny, sexy and packed with creative power and the love of storytelling." Further volumes have confirmed all that even as they have explored O'Malley's fascination with his own self-imposed videogame structure.

As a now 41-year-old guy, I'll 'fess up that I don't much care for most video games. When I bought my most recent PC two years ago, and the one before that eight years ago, both times I had to work mightily to convince the sales person I didn't need a turbo-charged graphics system, eleventy-thousand terabytes of processing power, and no, thank you, I sure as hell don't need a goddamned joystick. I don't like video games, board games, mind games, or any kind of games. Although David Mamet's House of Games is a fun little movie.

My point is, I like Scott Pilgrim quite a bit, even while realizing I am a bit younger than either its creator or its target audience. I've mentioned before that what interests me most in comics, and in pretty much everything, is what's new and what's next, a phrase I first remember being coined by Warren Ellis in the late 20th century. And Scott Pilgrim was ahead of its time when it came out, and it still feels like forward-looking work from a cartoonist who is still developing his chops even while entertaining the hell out of me and a lot of other people.

So Tim O'Neil's curmudgeonly takedown of the Pilgrim series in the new Comics Journal did not strike a chord with me. It struck me as being reactionary and contrarian without providing either a solid argument or even food for thought for those of us that have happily swallowed the Pilgrim Kool-Aid. I use this last metaphor tongue firmly in cheek, because along with Street Angel, Scott Pilgrim seemed to be one of those books a couple of years back that, when you talked about how good they were in a review or message board post or in-person conversation, really aggravated certain folks who hadn't read them because they couldn't see past the corporate superhero racks in their local comic shop.

Upon reflection, I wonder if that irritation might, in part, have stemmed from the fact that both of those independent, creator-owned and black and white titles were full of more life, energy and colour than any 20 corporate superhero comics you could grab off the racks at random? If it isn't that, then certainly it's the fact that both series masterfully utilized superhero and other traditions to put a new spin on action, adventure and comic book storytelling in general.

Anyway, that's my two cents on Scott Pilgrim and Tim O'Neil's unconvincing and badly-constructed review, inspired by reading Chris Allen's thorough dismantling of O'Neil's piece. Chris manages to find some interesting new insights into Scott Pilgrim that truly had not occurred to me before, a feat I wish O'Neil could have pulled off in his review. A bad review of a work I like has value if it makes me look at it in a new light; O'Neil's piece, ultimately, just seems like he read the series in a poorly-lit room.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:24 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
AK Comics -- Abhay Khosla of Title Bout fame (infamy?) has made a comic called Left Field and is distributing it online in easy-to-read .CBZ format. Details and a link to download the comics for free in the link. AK promises a print version soon, as well.

I've downloaded it and am reading it now, but I had to edit this post to say, Left Field is something like The Golem's Mighty Swing by way of Street Angel. DEFINITELY worth downloading and reading. I had no idea AK had it in him. This release is an interesting development well worth keeping an eye on...

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 8:18 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
What Do I Know? -- Over the past week, I've written about my experiences over the past thirty years of shopping for comics in the direct market, where the market is at now, and where I think it needs to go in the future.

Other than having been a broadcast journalist for two-thirds of that thirty years, and exercising my powers of observation and reportage, I can't claim any expertise. What I've talked about, I've seen first-hand, from shops that fail to open on time most of the time, to shops that deliberately alienate anyone who isn't an aging male superhero fan, all the better to not have to deal with the difficult tastes of women, children, or even other men who somehow prefer to read more than just power fantasies about men in tight pants battling in close quarters over and over again for decades on end.

But, as the title says, what do I know?

You know who might have some insight into the current state of the market? Maybe a guy who actually publishes them for a living, and has for the past few years.

Brett Warnock of Top Shelf Productions:

The dismal failure of 90% of the comics shop owner/managers to provide comics to a wider audience is mind-boggling to me. I won't say retailing is easy, by any means, but neither is it a rocket science.

So many times i've visited stores in new cities, with nary an art-comic on their shelves, where the dork behind the counter says, "Well, they don't sell." Duh, dude!! If you don't have them, people can't buy them! I'm not talking about somewhere in the middle of Kansas, i'm talking about super liberal college campuses (like where i went to school in Eugene, OR), where alternative comics would thrive.

One time, i checked back on a store who had purchased some comics from me at our standard wholesale discount, to see if they needed a restock. Sure enough, the comics had sold, but when i asked if he'd like more, he mumbled, "Thank god those are gone," as if he'd finally rid his store of a flea-infested stray dog. He MADE MONEY on my comics, but acted as if i were putting him in a bind. What the fu*k!@?

And what about those who say comic shops should just continue to sell what sells? They'll always be around, right?

It's somewhat hard to believe, but having polled other indy publishers, we've come to the conclusion that "maybe" 250 comics shops in North America represent 90% of our direct market sales. There's possibly 3,500 comics shops (or some weak iteration thereof, in the form of a baseball card store here or a hobby & games store there), and it's difficult not to wonder, and dream "what if?" even half of these shops truly knew the scope of PROFITS to be made in the emerging market for non-spandex comics? What would happen? Are you high?

Much more at the Top Shelf blog. I appreciate Brett taking the time to comment, because Top Shelf has published some of the best graphic novels of the past decade -- books accessible and entertaining to readers far, far outside the average superhero convenience shop.

But hopefully you already know that.

Labels: essays, good comic shops, industry, linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 4:39 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Daniel Robert Epstein -- By now you've probably heard of the death of Daniel Robert Epstein, one of the comics internet's most valuable journalists. More often than not over the past few years, if someone somewhere linked to an interview with a cartoonist I was interested in, it turned out Epstein conducted the piece, and his work was uniformly excellent. Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics has compiled a list of Daniel Robert Epstein's interviews with Fantagraphics cartoonists. (Thanks to Dirk Deppey for spotting this).

Newsarama's Matt Brady also remembers Epstein, who was a frequent contributer to Newsarama.

Finally, here's one of Epstein's last pieces of comics journalism, an interview with Joe Matt upon the release of his new collection Spent, published by Drawn and Quarterly. I'm going to go read this piece now. I'm grateful for all the great reading Epstein provided all of us with over the past few years. His was one of the few names I automatically associated with excellence every time I heard it, and I hoped we'd see much, much more from him.

Update: Here's an interview Epstein conducted with perennial Galaxy fave Jason Marcy.

Labels: linkblogging, real life

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:47 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Monday Briefing -- Hello, good day and welcome to the Monday Briefing for June 11th. June 11th?!? So the year is virtually half-over? That doesn't seem possible, and yet, I know the kids are almost done with school and summer is about to begin.

I kind of felt like my summer vacation already happened with Friday's trip to Northampton. Sure it was just one day, but my daughter and I had a great time. I'm still making my way through the comics and graphic novels I picked up at Modern Myths. Which is funny, because I browsed the shelves for something like three hours and still felt like I might have missed something. MM has a lot of books. Oh, one thing I failed to mention on Friday was manager Jim Crocker's hardcover policy, which I noticed right away and was blown away by. Any hardcover graphic novel that has a dustcover is reinforced with a library-style clear plastic sleeve. Every single one. It makes the books look classier and adds protection to the book that will extend its shelf-life and even enhance its re-sale potential, if that's your thing. And how much does Modern Myths charge for this feature?

Nothing.

Since the first time I walked in the door, I thought Modern Myths represented the best possible future for comic book stores, and that feeling has only grown over the years. If you're anywhere near Northampton, Massachusetts, stop in and see if you don't agree.

The Sopranos wrapped up last night, but I haven't seen it yet, so, don't spoil it for me. Hopefully I will get to it this evening after work. Last night my wife and I re-watched the pilot episode from the first season, and it was interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't. Paulie hasn't changed a bit, but guys like him never do, do they? James Gandolfini seemed to be talking in a higher pitch, maybe invoking Joe Pesci. He was also much less dark, both because Tony Soprano was trying Prozac for his depression and because the worst years of his life were to come in the next decade. Gandolfini's acting has been a consistent joy to watch over the course of the series, and if you somehow have never seen the series, add it to your Netflix pile or keep an eye out for an eventual complete series DVD collection. The individual seasons have been criminally (ho, ho) expensive, but if they make an affordable full-series set, it would be a great addition to the video library of anyone who enjoys quality storytelling.

Except the Columbus Day episode, yes, but that's the exception that proves the rule.

Over at The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon interviews Joe Casey again. I think this is the third time? At least? Spurgeon 'fesses up to a desire to interview Casey every few years, and that would be fine by me. Their original Comics Journal interview found Casey discussing the occasional disconnect between his ideas and getting them intact into his comics. Given how many interesting titles Casey has worked on that ultimately did not quite work out, he's a great case-study for what can go wrong and right when working in comics, especially corporate superhero comics.

I think Casey's greatest creative success was probably Wildcats Vol. 2 and Vol. 3.0 before the "Coup d'Etat" event destroyed not only that title but the Wildstorm universe as a viable storytelling milieu. Casey mentions his Iron Man: The Inevitable mini-series in the new interview, and, well, I'm sure there was a good idea in there somewhere.

Speaking of Iron Man, do you think Marvel will eventually reset or redeem the character, or will he just remain the outright evil supervillain he's been since Civil War began? You know what would have been a great ending for that? Garth Ennis writing the last issue, as Frank Castle blows away Tony Stark and everyone cheers, The End. (Andrew Wheeler nicely sums up the series' flaws in this post at The V).

I've been thinking about this since borrowing the first three issues of The Avengers: The Initiative from The Favoured Store. Is there a character left in the Marvel Universe that is actually a good guy?

I talked to Jim Crocker on Friday a bit about my conviction that the current era of corporate superhero comics will one day be recognized as The Fan Fiction Age, due to the poor quality of the storytelling, which often reminds me of an eight-year-old playing in the tub with action figures: "Then Superboy PUNCHES THROUGH TIME!" "Geoff? Make sure you wash behind your ears, now!" "Aw, mom!!!"

I can't remember the last time I read a Marvel or DC story that seemed canonical with the comics the companies produced in the 20th century. I fully expect a writer to emerge in the next five years or so who will successfully kick off a new paradigm that makes Marvel and DC's characters not only viable, but appealing again.

And sure, there are creators working today who could do that: Darwyn Cooke, Grant Morrison, and Warren Ellis all come to mind. But the companies either marginalize their best efforts, things like New Frontier, Nextwave or Seven Soldiers are off to the side and don't really have an impact on the universes proper. Or, like Morrison with 52 or Ellis with Thunderbolts, these creators choose to play in the fan-fiction sandbox the companies have endorsed, with the resulting comics not quite meeting the best standard the creators have proven themselves capable of.

Back in the early 1980s, Alan Moore, Frank Miller and some other folks came along and re-energized the Marvel and DC universes with storytelling that looked at the characters and their settings in a way far different from what had been the status quo. I doubt Moore would want the job these days, and God knows Miller isn't fit for the task, but what is needed is someone with that same sort of energy, intelligence and passion for comics storytelling to come along and inject superhero comics with those very qualities. Until then, folks like Johns, Straczynski and others will continue to create comics that damage the longterm viability of the characters even as they sell like hotcakes to borderline psychotic nerds who actually think these comics are any better than the crap Marvel and DC pumped out by the metric fuckload in the 1990s.

I'm pretty far from the John Byrne "Superhero Comics Are For Kids" bandwagon -- I think there should be all types of genres and storytelling modes available for readers of all ages, genders and interests. But what I see coming out of Marvel and DC these days, their core books -- they are about as far from what they could and should be as is even imaginable. Max Lord taking a bullet through the melon on-panel, and The Elongated Man's wife getting raped doggie-style both seemed to me like superhero porn at the time, and things have only gotten worse from there.

My kids are 11 and 13, and there's not a single Marvel or DC universe book that appeals to them. Check my pull list in the sidebar to the right -- anything with an asterisk (*) is a title I have reserved for them. I guess as a parent it makes me a little sad that they can't enjoy the superhero universes that entertained me so much when I was their age, because of the poor stewardship of the characters on the part of the current management at the two major corporate superhero publishers. And if you're thinking that the publishers have all-ages titles like Avengers Adventures for kids, my response is, why should they have to? When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, Avengers was a title any superhero fan could enjoy, of any age. I've tried the Adventures titles on my kids, but somehow I think they sense the pandering and condescension that is inherent in the need for all-ages versions of characters that are, by definition, meant to be enjoyed by readers of all ages anyway. I can't think of any other reason why most of those titles fail to generate any interest in my kids. Or in me, come to think of it.

Labels: corporate comics, good comic shops, linkblogging, monday briefing

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 6:12 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Wizard on The Boys -- Click over to Wizard (there's a phrase you don't see around here much) for a brief interview with Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson about The Boys, which arrives in stores today in the form of a graphic novel collecting the first six issues and a new #7, so you can get all caught up at once courtesy of new publisher Dynamite Entertainment.

I've enjoyed the entire series to date, but #7 is particularly delicious, inventing a somewhat new and different problem for a superhero to suffer from. It's great, perverse stuff.

I had already read the original issues collected in Vol. 1, but the Simon Pegg intro and especially the sketchbook section in the back make it worth a look whether you're new to the series or not.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 9:41 AM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
The Boys Are Back -- If, like me, you enjoyed Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's The Boys until DC/Wildstorm unceremoniously (not to say petulantly) pulled the plug, issue #7 arrives in stores this week from new and more visionary publisher Dynamite Entertainment. Do keep an eye out, and remember that this week, in the U.S. at least, comics will arrive in stores one day late due to the Memorial Day holiday.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 1:10 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
Roger on the DD Omnibus -- Head over to Roger's place for the scoop on Marvel reprinting pages from the Daredevil Chronicles published a couple decades back by FantaCo.

You can occasionally find the Chronicles specials in the quarter bins, and they all are well worth picking up if you can find them, by the way.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 2:01 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE

 
New Valiant Comics FAQ -- One of my favourite comics of all time is Archer and Armstrong by Barry Windsor-Smith. Learn more about the book and the company that published it in the new Valiant Comics F.A.Q. by Andy Smith.

Labels: linkblogging

// posted by Alan David Doane @ 5:51 PM [LINK TO THIS] | 0 COMMENTS | E-MAIL ADD | SUBSCRIBE