One of the things I was really looking forward to, when I got back from Japan, was the freeing-up of my schedule. I’ve been ‘in the shit’ as they say since June or July at this point. The lead-up to San Diego, the lead-up to TCAF, the lead-up to my Japan trip, and finally, the lead-up to Toronto’s The Word On The Street where I organised and co-hosted a full day of programming (with special thanks to the always-wonderful Mark Askwith, of course). With WOTS finally over (it went fabulously, thanks for asking) there’s now nothing on my plate, extra-curricular-wise, until Christmas. Business as usual at the store, no major changes coming up at home, things will hopefully be if not calm, then more managable than the past 4 months.

Meanwhile, comics has continued at an astounding pace without me. TEKKON KINKREET, my most-recently championed project, has done phenomenally well for us. I haven’t checked in with Viz yet, but here in Toronto it’s selling particularly well (although mentioning it in the blog 10-15 times probably didn’t hurt none). I’d say we’ve moved better than 20 copies at this point, and about 8 of the DVDs (which is by all accounts phenomenal, I’m waiting for a quiet night to enjoy it), and I’m pretty happy with those numbers, particularly as the velocity actually picked up, last week. I hope this isn’t a situation where what we do at The Beguiling isn’t reflected anywhere else in the industry, because at the very least this is a great book by a great creator, and it deserves an audience.

I actually read a LOT of comics last week, both getting ready for my “History of Comics” presentation as well as just wanting to catch up on everything I’d missed while I was away. The new issue of Giant Robot (an Asian culture magazine, not just about robots but also books/film/lifestyle/etc.) features a cover-story on Adrian Tomine in advance of his new graphic novel Shortcomings, and the interview and lovely cover art are worth the price of admission. Shortcomings is very good as well, I’ve even got a half of a review written on it that talks about liking a book even though you don’t like any of the characters in it. I might get it finished or I might not, we’ll see.

Actually it’s just after 2, I should probably get to bed early for a change. Tomorrow our orders are due to Diamond, and I’m only about 50% done at this point. I know it’s pretty late in the game to be complaining about the September Previews (the new one’s been out for a week already), but my god, there are a lot of crappy, crappy COUNTDOWN spin-offs coming down the pipe, aren’t there? Our COUNTDOWN sell-through has slid to about half of what it was at the beginning of the series (and about a third of our 52 numbers), so I don’t know who DC expects will be buying all of these terrible-looking mini-series, but I’m certainly not going to risk any money on it. Yikes.

Anyway, I’d rather go out on a high-note, so I’ll show you the lovely cover to the recent Giant Robot magazine that I was talking about. It’s by Adrian Tomine, and it’s available in better comic book stores (like The Beguiling) and on better newstands everywhere, right now.

- Christopher

Oh shit… what’s this? Could it be? It is! It’s:

Yes, it’s NAMJATOWN, a multi-floor themed indoor amusement park. Sort of. While there are three over-riding “games” you can participate in (if you both read and speak perfect Japanese), really, you just go to see one of the most amazing, tacky, fucked-up places you’ve ever been. Seriously. It’s NAMJATOWN. I was first made aware of NAMJATOWN by my buddy Jim Zubkavich of Udon Comics. He, sleep-deprived and in total culture-shock, traversed NAMJATOWN within his first couple of days of being in Japan his first time, and found it thoroughly surreal, and dammit if that wasn’t an experience I wanted for Andrew and I. NAMJATOWN, by NAMCO, makers of Pac Man. Hang on to your hats, kids!

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I’m heading to Japan in early September, thanks to the very gracious hospitality of friends of mine who are living just outside of Tokyo that will make the trip less financially impossible. I’ve been really looking forward to going to Japan for years; the Japanese culture has had a hold on me since I was 14 and I’m really looking forward to scratching the itch that has developed.

I’ve already been fortunate enough to get some great advice from friends who’ve visited the region before on business and for vacation, but I have something of a broad and diverse readership here with their own impressions of the country, so I thought I’d open the floor. What should I see? Where should I go? In particular, can you recommend any great vegetarian cuisine for my husband who is afraid of fish? If you could list a few things that I shouldn’t miss in the comments section? That’d be great.

A little background: We’re going to be spending most of our time in the Tokyo area, with quick trips to Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto on this trip. Obviously I’m interested in manga (and to a lesser extent, anime), but other cultural happenings or unique experiences would be great too. We already plan to hit the larger interesting neighborhoods like Akihabara, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Roppongi (and the ridiculous Roppongi Hills complex), Ginza, etc., but we’re looking for the wonderful things within those neighborhoods that shouldn’t be missed.

Also, if you’re in Japan and want to meet up for an Asahi, let me know and we can try to work something out.

All suggestions will be read and appreciated.

Best,

- Christopher

- All of my time is taken up with prep for The Toronto Comic Arts Festival right now (August 18-19). Everytime I actually want to write a post here about what’s going on in the wide world of comics, I shake my head and invest that time back into making sure there’ll be event schedules ready to go tomorrow, and that the signage will be printed, and things like that.

- That said, there’s still lots of TCAF-related stuff I’m looking forward to posting here. Notes from artists, event info, oh, and that panel schedule I was just talking about. I think it’ll be at least a little bit interesting even if you’re not coming to the event? But if you are it’s gonna be awesome.

- Oh, and I did get my cell phone back in the end. I’d left it on the table at the D&Q booth, and Tom Devlin was nice enough to scoop it up for me and send it back to Toronto.

Thanks for your continued patronage,

- Christopher

Sorry for the interruption, but this is just an FYI that it looks like my old cro2@212.net e-mail address is over and done with. I had that address for like 10 years, and I’m sad to see it go. I mean, if you want to find me it’s not like it’s hard or anything, but still. Sad days.

(All the other ones still work.)

- Chris

Hey folks, sorry for the recent dearth of material. I feel like I turned a corner, 12 minutes ago, when I updated this month’s PREVIEWS order. I’m not attending MoCCA this year, and aside from a brief sojourn to the Toronto Comicon in a few weeks, my plate is remarkably clear until San Diego. Of course, by ‘clear’ I mean ‘I can’t believe how much TCAF stuff there is to do’, but I should be able to get my life and blogging back in order, anyway.

Speaking of blogging, thanks to the folks at “Fandom Wank” the “AFRAID OF COCK” post got another go-round on the internet, sparking more comments and snickering. I honestly had no idea that post would push as many buttons as it has… A friend didn’t believe me when I told him I had no idea anyone would read it or care (”Come on man” he said. “You’re Chris Butcher, that means something.” I was sitting on my couch in my underwear, eating cereal and an hour late for work at the time.), but I guess this stuff has legs. Ah well. I wish you were all reading CASANOVA, it’s got actual penises in it (and a great story, and lovely art…). That hard cover last week sure was pretty, wasn’t it? Damn.
Barring catastrophe, I should be updating daily for the next little while (and this post doesn’t count, real content later today, hopefully). Thanks for continuing to tune in here.

- Christopher

My friend Rich Stevens (creator of Diesel Sweeties) posted some really sage words of advice over at his LiveJournal this week, about “The How and Why of Making Webcomics“, but it’s really about finding the drive and strength for any artistic pursuit. Rich is one of the 5 or 6 people making his living from being a webcomicker, and as such I find his opinions on the subject tend to carry a lot of weight.

He’s come up with seven… well, he probably wouldn’t call them “rules” but let’s say seven pieces of advice for folks that want to produce webcomics (or any kind of art). They’re good rules, in my humble opinion, and at the link he actually backs them up with examples and… you know, stuff. Sorry, my head’s not in the game today, but the info at the link is really good. Go check it out.

“You’re here for the audience. People should be able to count on your being there for them when you say you’re going to be there. Life is annoying, uncertain and full of problems. Comic strips exist to give comfort, make people think and generally help them get through their day/week/geological epoch.

“Stick to your schedule and do your best. Your audience will quietly appreciate you and help you out when you need it. If you work out some personal issues and make yourself feel better for creating something, all the better.”

- Richard Stevens

- Chris
 

Since my last “Catching Up” post went over so very, very well, I figured it was time for another. Here’s what the last 4 days of Google Reader have turned up:

- Hollywood.com has David Duchovney confirming a new X-Files movie is in the works. According to Duchovney, “This week, they’re starting some kind of road towards doing it (the film). Gillian and I both want to be in it now. We’re happy to do it.” How about that eh? Time heals all wounds, as does a pretty thoroughly unspectacular post-X-Files career… On a related note, my employer has a ton of original X-Files art for sale by X-Files comics adaptation artist Sean Scoffield. There’s also art from the Queer as Folk TV Show, the movie eXistenZ, and the recent Underworld mini-series from Marvel Comics. Just Saying.

- Video Game website “Gameasutra” has an article up on being out and LGBT in the video gaming industry. The answers are very, very similar to what I hear from gays in the comics industry, so in lieu of any such articles on comics, I figured it was worth pointing out to the industry-watchers who watch this blog. Here’s a good quote from the opening:

Jeb Havens, probably one of the most visible and vocal LGBT developers, says, “It’s not like there’s only a handful” of gay people making games, “but there’s no presence or community. There’s no ‘gay’ face to it.”

I’d love to write a similar article about LGBT creators and industry folk in comics, particularly within the larger realm of blogging, but with no time to spare it’s not gonna happen. C’est la vie, but go read this one: it’s really well done. Thanks to GayGamer.net for the link.

- The best part about my job is selling good comics to people. There’s a special kind of magic to selling someone the first volume of The Invisibles, or giving them Scott Pilgrim for the first time. It honestly makes all of the other stuff, like selling Civil War, totally worthwhile. I was reminded of this by Matt Forsythe back in the comments to my Taiyo Matsumoto post, as it looks like just went out and dropped a bunch of coin on Matsumoto books. Nice! This is why I was so pleased to see this nostaligic remembrance of comics retail from Richard Bruton at the blog Fictions, about his time at Nostalgia & Comics in Birmingham:

“The rarest of prizes though, the really fun one was when a customer would come in and tell you that they’d read everything they wanted and could you suggest anything to read. That always made for a fun 10 minutes or so of chat and selling.

“I always sold the books to people with the promise that if they didn’t like them all they had to do was bring it back in and we’d refund the money, no questions asked. To me it seemed the only fair thing to do. After all, this wonderful customer is putting down good money for a book just because I’m telling them it’s wonderful. I’ve spent a little time asking all the pertinent questions to gauge exactly what sort of thing they’re after, but I could always misjudge their comic character and sell them something they hate.

“I’m very proud of the fact that in all my years of doing this, not a single copy has ever been returned. Not one.” - Richard Bruton, Fictions Blog

I don’t have that kind of track record, sadly, but I occasionally let what I think people should be reading get in the way of what they might enjoy reading. I’m doing my best :) Tip of the hat to the Forbidden Planet Blog for the link.

I think that’s all for now. The contest details for the Garage Band contest are finished. They’re awesome. Posted later today.

- Christopher

1. Tom Spurgeon posted his “50 Best Comics of 2006” before I did, just like last year, and just like last year, I wanna get up off my ass and actually get mine done (it’s currently in spreadsheet format). His top 10 comics are probably different than my own, though I think his appreciation of Kampung Boy in awarding it the top spot is good, and makes a lot of sense. As I said in my review (Nov 12 entry) of the book:

“Lat is Malaysia’s Will Eisner, a ground-breaking graphic novelist whose deeply personal stories about society, family, and religion, speak to us all.”

2. Do you people care about Video Game stuff? I do, but I don’t want to assume too much. Still, the Grand Theft Auto series had a serious impact on my personal life, and it’s done much to popularise crime-based narratives in the past few years in comics, so I figure the news of the new Grand Theft Auto 4 Trailer breaking late last week is of interest. It’s set in “New York” this time out, and the NY media are already over it with angry folks at City Hall pitching 3 kinds of fits. Sounds to me like the game is gonna be a hit!

3. I don’t like Project: Rooftop. There, I said it. I’m sick of seeing talented creators feed their time, creativity, and intellectual property into revitalising trademarked characters, and for free, no less. I understand the memes that this site sprang out of, out of the cultural response to and reclamation of popular culture, and I still think it’s a little misguided and unfortunate (it’s a short step from that to HAL’S EMERALD ATTACK TEAM) but at least memes aren’t institutionalised like this. I wasn’t going to go and strap myself to a target like this, but this morning Warren Ellis started up a similar thread on The Engine, inviting participants there to redesign Witchblade as an artistic exercise, and then pointing out that the Editor of Witchblade is on the forum, and it just gave me a chill. How fortunate that all of you artists get to be cheap research and design for trademark holders. How fun.

If you’re a smart and talented artist, first and foremost do whatever the hell you like. But if you’re here reading this and you give a shit about what I have to say, then please invest your creativity and skill into your own work, which you own.

- Christopher, Killjoy