http://comics212.net Commentary on comics industry, culture, and output. Thu, 15 May 2008 07:02:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Project Superpowers #0-#3 By Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, Doug Kaluba, Stephen Sadowski, Carlos Paul, Andy Smith, and Various #0: $1.00, #1-3: $2.99 each, FCBD: Free Published by Dynamite Entertainment Two series' launched recently with very, very similar premises: Forgotten heroes from the Golden Age of comics, roughly World War II, are taken out of ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/15/review-project-superpowers-0-3-fcbd-special/ We're confirmed: The 2009 Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be held Saturday May 9th and Sunday May 10th, in Toronto, Canada. Our new digs? The Toronto Reference Library, a huge and beautiful modernist building, able to accommodate all of our growing Festival needs. Mark your calendars now, book off some time, ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/14/announce-tcaf-2009-may-9-10/ Although he was under no obligation to do so, Tom Spurgeon didn't post the full text of my response to the news that Fantagraphics has signed an exclusive deal with Diamond... It's a little more balanced and nuanced then what ended up in the CR piece, in my always-humble opinion, ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/14/full-response-fantagraphics-signs-with-diamond/ 1. Would a show that's sort of like Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares but set in comic book stores do well? Or would it just collapse the direct market? I mean, there are restaurants everywhere, that industry can survive the hits it takes. 2.  I'm 2000 messages behind on my feed reader ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/11/thoughts-vaguely-comics-related/ I was in a mood but I'm done now. - Chris http://comics212.net/2008/05/06/fcbd-fly-in-the-ointment/ Hey everybody! I just posted The Beguiling's Free Comic Book Day wrap-up at: http://www.beguiling.com/2008/05/free-comic-book-day-2008-wrap-up.html. We had a good year this year despite some pretty awful weather, and though I don't have exact figures I'd say that we had at least 600 people through both events over the course of the day, ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/05/free-comic-book-day-report-at-the-beguiling/ French graphic novelists Phillipe Dupuy and Charles Berberian visited New York a few months back, in celebration of the English-language release of Berberian's new book Haunted from Drawn & Quarterly. Alternative comics blog The Daily Crosshatch was on hand to interview the pair about their work and creative partnership, and it's ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/04/an-interview-with-dupuy-and-berberian/ I was fortunate enough to be a guest on the CBC's weekend morning program Fresh Air with Jeff Goodes this morning, extolling the virtues of comics and Free Comic Book Day in particular. I just wanted to drop a quick note thanking Jeff, Mariel, and Sandy for the chance to ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/03/thanks-to-fresh-air-and-the-cbc/ Are you in Toronto? Know people who are? The Beguiling/TCAF have put together two pretty-amazing Free Comic Book Day events. For one we partnered with the Toronto Public Library and a number of other organizations to do book launches for three Toronto authors who have new material for kids, and ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/02/free-comic-book-day-toronto/ 7:14am: I've been awake for 2 hours now. I'm on the radio this morning, across Canada, talking about the Iron Man movie opening today and promoting good comics and Free Comic Book Day. So far I've done interviews with local morning show hosts in Thunder Bay and Sudbury. Next up, ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/02/goooood-morning/ Alright, I totally need a little help here. I'm pretty up on the manga, I do my best to research the market, talk to fans, all that stuff. I'm spectacular at doing this within my field (comics retailers) but still at least pretty decent when compared to the legions of die-hard ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/01/whats-the-hottest-manga-that-no-one-knows-about/ A retailer in Michigan was robbed and then shot in his store last week. He's in the hospital right now and racking up what I can only imagine are terrifyingly large medical bills because the U.S. Healthcare system is pretty frightening, and like many small business owners he doesn't have ... http://comics212.net/2008/05/01/michigan-retailer-shot-could-use-some-help/ I'm just finishing up the monthly Previews order for the store, and noticed something a little peculiar. We ordered just-about as many volumes of Fruits Basket this month as we did every other manga they publish, combined. For those of you not in the know, they publish around 40 titles ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/29/reasons-for-worry-tokyopop-edition/ "As Josh notes, there are smaller cons that cater to indie comics - SPX, APE, MoCCa, etc. -- cons largely by and for activists, who've decided to make that niche their bread and butter. But any con that hits a certain size has to start looking at their bottom line ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/28/comic-cons-are-doomed-to-suck/ I hinted at it in some of my brief New York posts, but I thought I'd maybe blog a little more thoroughly about my conversation with Marc Weidenbaum, the fella at Viz in charge of Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat, about his work developing a new line of original comics ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/28/vizs-new-original-content-line/ I don't usually just post press releases, but this is amazing! Christophe Blain will be touring west coast comic stores starting this weekend! If you're in the area I absolutely insist you go. Blain's work is incredible, and his Isaac The Pirate series is a wonderful cartooning achievement. Publisher NBM ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/24/press-release-christophe-blain-tours-west-coast-next-week/ It's 6 years to the day since I started blogging at Comics212. I'm a considerably better writer at this point, I think. I actually started writing a column for 212.net in December if 1997, so I guess that was my official serialized writing debut (10 years!), but it wasn't until ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/23/happy-anniversary-to-me/ I just got back from NPR, and I think the interview went really well. If you're just joining us following the show, thanks for visiting! Hope you enjoy the archives, and my favourite stuff is from my trip to Japan (click "Japan" in the categories section). I scheduled my trip to ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/21/i-had-a-dream-where-i-went-to-wal-mart-with-grant-morrison-scott-robins/ Hey there, readership! Two quick things. I am still in New York, and the nice folks at NPR's The Bryant Park Project morning show have asked me on to their show to talk about the con, my experiences, and etc. I'll be on sometime around 8am tomorrow morning, and I'm looking ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/21/good-news-everyone/ Kazu Kibuishi signs the movie contract for his graphic novel Amulet. The movie has been optioned by Will Smith's production company. Kazu is pretty excited to meet him. :) There's 3 announcements in this picture, if you look carefully. The big one is the exceptionally good news that Stephen Robson of ... http://comics212.net/2008/04/19/3-photos-from-the-new-york-comic-con/