Comics212

1. Last week’s wrap-up of Superman & The Golden Age Legion in Action Comics was really, surprisingly enjoyable and probably the best comic Geoff Johns has ever written. I can now actually recommend a Geoff Johns comic. Who’da thunk it?
2. On the Secret Retailer Forum, I’d been watching and not one retailer out of the hundreds that participate there was asking for more copies of Secret Invasion #1. Apparently no one at all sold out. And yet… due to “demand” Marvel is releasing a second printing a week later. I’m curious where the demand was… I couldn’t see any. Does anyone believe that story anymore?
3. Hibbs kicks Wizard in the teeth and deservedly so. Go read it.
4. I have no problem at all selling manga, specific manga, to non-manga readers at the comics shop. Stuff that would otherwise fit their tastes of course… But I will never sell a manga to a “superhero” reader, because I don’t think they’re interested in the medium of comics so much as the superhero content via any delivery system. Maybe this is obvious, but the sales of recently-completed series’ Death Note, Dragon Head, and Drifting Classroom to a wide array of people who would say or have said that they “hate manga” really put that into perspective for me.
5. I’m personally aware that producing regular single issues and competing in the direct market is not “the way” for alternative and art comix, but at the same time I miss having weeks where every single new comic on the stands wasn’t a superhero/fantasy/zombie genre book. No more Love & Rockets, no more Eightball, and a minimum of a year between issues of everything else… I think that except for Young Liars #2 and Ganges this week*, every other comic book is a mainstream/direct market/fantastical element sort of thing, and that’s just a little disappointing…?

- Chris
*: I totally forgot about Criminal #2, which I just read, and was fan-fucking-tastic. Best book of the week. Faith in comics: Maintained!

I was out wandering the various Asian malls that make up Toronto and surrounding areas, and was reminded by this poster just how awesome Junko Mizuno is. Mizuno is a mangaka whose work has sporadically been published in English, primarily as part of the defunct Pulp line by Viz. Her three fairy-tale inspired graphic novels, Cinderalla, Hansel & Gretel, and Princess Mermaid mix her trademark cute-grotesque style of art with an end-of-the-millennium Japanese cultural mania and inject them into classic and seemingly comforting tails. In addition to the triumverate of colour fairy-tale manga, Mizuno has also had two black and white manga translated into English; Pure Trance and The Life of Momongo (which appeared in the out of print anthology Secret Comics Japan). Pure Trance is probably Mizuno’s masterpiece, a sprawling and depraved journey through the end of the world and the breakdown of society, as viewed through a sort of Kabuki-cho-Powerpuff-Girl lens, though Momongo is probably my favourite for its distillation of Mizuno’s themes and style down to a short, sharp story.

As you can see above, that top illustration is just a small part of this larger poster, the art of which inspired these plush toys from the PostPet line… I didn’t end up buying the toys, sadly, though I could’ve got the pair for $40! Maybe they’d have thrown in the poster too? Anyway, if anyone loves me as much as $40, now you know what I’d like for my birthday.

Back to our subject… Mizuno has always been a solid illustrator, and recently she’s been moving more and more into the illustration/high-end vinyl toy/fine art world, much to comics’ loss (though there are still many volumes of her work that remain untranslated… I’ve got 3 myself!). In addition to these plush toys, there’ve been a ton of great vinyl adaptations of her work and you can see more at her blog (linked below). An outstanding collection of Mizuno’s illustration is on display in the Mizuno art book Hell Babies, as notable for all of the great illustration it contains as it is for its superlative presentation; puffy, sparkly vinyl covers house die-cut rounded pages and multiple paper stocks. Published in North America by Last Gasp, Hell Babies is out of print at the moment but fret not! A new edition of Hell Babies was released in Japan last year with an additional 16 pages, and I’ve been led to believe we’ll see an English edition sooner than we think…

Of course, for those of who can’t wait, The Japanese edition is currently in stock at The Beguiling, thanks to a trip to Japan… It’s pretty awesome, and looks lovely as part of my little Junko Mizuno collection. If you want one drop us a line at mail at beguiling dot com, but they should be available everywhere by the end of the year.

Oo! Look! Extra pages with the shiny paper! How can you resist?

For more information on Junko Mizuno, here’re a few links:

jaPRESS (Mizuno’s North American Agents): http://www.japress.com/
Junko Mizuno @ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junko_Mizuno
Junko Mizuno @ Viz: http://www.viz.com/products/products.php?series_id=86
Junko Mizuno Website (Under Construction): http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~mjdotcom/
Junko Mizuno’s Blog: http://jmnews.exblog.jp/

- Christopher

I’ve never posted this sort of list before but I figured it’s kind of interesting to see what our numbers are like versus what the numbers are like for the rest of the industry. I’d say that, in general the big trends tend to hit us the same way, though you can see the benefits of hand-selling and engaged and happy clerks making their presence felt around the middle of the list.

It’s also worth noting that All Star Superman #10 from a few weeks ago would have charted just on a standard best-seller list, as would Dragon Head Volume 10 and a few other graphic novels… and it was a sort of a light-week for graphic novels. I felt that this list was a little more interesting though…enjoy. I’d love to hear comments or see similar lists from my retailing friends…

Top 20 Best-Selling New Comics at The Beguiling Last Week
1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer #13
2. Secret Invasion #1
3. Kick-Ass #2
4. Angel After The Fall #6
5. Action Comics #863
6. Casanova #13
7. Amazing Spider-Man #555
8. Omega The Unknown #7
9. The Boys #17
10. Countdown to Final Crisis #4
11. Detective Comics #843
12. Anna Mercury #1 (Multiple Covers)
13. Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #2
14. The Twelve #4
15. Young X-Men #1
16. Trials of Shazam #12
17. Abe Sapien: The Drowning #3
18. Jonah Hex #30
19. Walking Dead #48
20. Project Superpowers #2

- Christopher

What you’re seeing above is the de-lovely Prada ‘epicentre’ in Tokyo, decked out in the new face of the line, illustrated by James Jean. I’d previously mentioned the Fables and Umbrella Academy cover artist’s work with Prada a few weeks ago, after realizing that no one was covering this story and I felt it was a big one… Anyway according to Wallpaper* Magazine, the James Jean illustration is now covering the Japanese flagship store in honour of the release of the second installment of the Trembled Blossoms animation. Pretty damned impressive! Wallpaper* also had another nice photo of the Prada spring/summer 2008 show that featured Jean’s art that I thought I’d include.

I hope that James get all that’s coming to him out of this…

- Christopher
Photos apparently Copyright 2008 Wallpaer* Magazine.

In the last week of 2006, I was an incredible smart-ass and decided to treat the weekly shipping list like chicken entrails or tea leaves, using it to predict what would go on in the comics industry in 2007. Mostly I just wanted to take the piss out of the comics industry (as I am wont to do) and crack a few easy jokes… Going back over the archives today I was kind of surprised at the… accuracy… of some of my predictions though. I suppose that’s why I get paid the big bucks? Anyway, you can find the original predictions here, but I wanted to call out some of the ones I got right:

NOV060196 52 WEEK #35 2.50
2006: 34 weeks of mediocrity, only 18 to go. Omen for 2007: A constant top-20 presence proves once again that people would rather have a constant stream of pablum than a great meal that takes some time to prepare. Look for much more of the same next year…

Yikes. Called that one.

AUG062018 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #537 CW 2.99
2006: Spider-man shows face, penis, to world. Omen for 2007: This was just a blip. Superheroes will remain faceless eunnichs for nerds to project themselves onto. DON’T WORRY.

I’ve never been so happy to get one wrong. While I’m not really one for his work normally, I’d like to thank Alex Ross for giving characters packages every once in a while. Of course, fanboys completely lost their shit when it happened, causing the illustrations to be altered before they were printed… So I’m going still going to count this one as correct…

JUL062970 BARRONS GRAPHIC CLASSICS TREASURE ISLAND SC (C: 0- 8.99
2006: Savvy small publishers and major publishing houses alike realize that there’s a huge gap in the book market featuring adaptations of classic literature, and race each other to the shelves in their bid to ‘update the classics.’ Omen for 2007: Adaptations almost always suck, horribly, and 2007 will be the year that everyone finds that out, hopefully.

Yeah, I fucked that one up (damn my optimism). We’re getting more classic literature adaptations than ever (thank you, public domain) and for every solid and artful adaptation like Neil Babra’s take on Hamlet, we end up with a line of factory-style creations that bring nothing to the table except some pretty mediocre art and poor storytelling.

AUG062033 CIVIL WAR #6 (OF 7) 2.99
AUG062035 CIVIL WAR 1 FOR 75 TURNER SKETCH VAR #6 (OF 7) (NE PI
AUG062037 CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #10 (OF 11) 2.99
AUG062034 CIVIL WAR TURNER VAR #6 (OF 7) 2.99
2006: Marvel’s Civil War topped the sales charts, coming off of the poorly-received and ultimately-disappointing House of M crossover. Omen for 2007: Marvel’s World War Hulk tops the sales charts, coming off of the incredibly late and ultimately-disappointing Civil War crossover. No one learns anything.

2008: Marvel’s Secret Invasion tops the charts coming off of the only-a-little-late and ultimately-disappointing World War Hulk crossover (seriously, no one liked that last issue). Care to make a guess for 2009?

SEP063297 COMICS JOURNAL #280 9.95
2006: The Comics Journal continues its return to becoming an essential industry periodical by actually engaging the industry as a whole, and increasing coverage of manga, female creators, new mainstream, and ‘outsider’ comics artists. Then Dirk leaves for the internet. Omen for 2007: Well, at least Dirk’s still on the internet.

Yeah, I’ll stand by that one.

MAY051534 HELLSHOCK DEFINITIVE ED VOL 1 HC 49.99
2006: Holy shit, this is actually coming out. And just in time for… oh, wait, that was last week. Omen for 2007: Joe at Dynamic Forces does not, in fact, buy me a blue drink after me making fun of the company on my blog. That’s more of a personal sort of omen, but, important nonetheless.

I just wanted to mention that Joe did not, in fact, buy me a blue drink in 2007.

NOV062300 IRON MAN HYPERVELOCITY #1 (OF 6) 2.99
2006: Not enough Adam Warren on the stands. Maybe not ANY Adam Warren on the stands, except for an introduction (!) to the American Mangaka book, and that’s simply unacceptable. Omen for 2007: Perhaps between this and Warren’s forthcoming graphic novel for Dark Horse, Empowered, everyone will wake up and realise just how good of a creator he is. He made Gen 13 REALLY, REALLY GOOD. Do you know how hard that is?

Well, unfortunately Iron Man: Hypervelocity didn’t do much for anyone, but Warren’s Empowered has become a bonafied hit! It’s actually one of our best-selling Dark Horse books overall, and I couldn’t be happier for Warren, who’s a very talented creator.

SEP063658 NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER VOL 6 TP (C: 1-0-0) 9.99
2006: What a great, great year for manga. Seriously. All the Tezuka (so much Tezuka!), all of the Viz Signature books are great. 3 releases from Fanfare/Ponent-Mon, a new Tatsumi from D&Q, Tokyopop is putting out some great books, and Dark Horse’s ‘horror’ line skirts the edge of J-Horror to bring some really solid, off-the-wall stuff. Great year for manga. Omen for 2007: None of it sells, and all you fuckers get the umpteenth variation on LONELY NERD FUCK-UP MUST TAKE CARE OF 40 SEXY LITTLE GIRLS; HIJINKS ENSUE. Serves you right.

Sometimes I don’t want to be right.

I mean, we got some amazing mature manga in 07 but there were a number of disappointments too… And there are so, so many more lonely nerd fuck-up manga.

AUG062095 POWERS #22 (MR) 2.95
2006: Brutal schedule this year guys, and all of those issues where Bendis used ‘stand-up comedy routines’ to yell at fanboys? Kind of soured me on the series for a while there. The current arc is very good though, and two issues in three weeks means that the book MIGHT JUST get itself back on schedule. Omen for 2007: Bendis takes on more projects. Oeming takes on more projects. Issues solicited for November 06, January 07, and February 07 all do manage to be released in calendar-year 2007. Maybe even a trade, the crystal ball is a little fuzzy at this point. Or sad, one of the two.

Looks like it really was both a fuzzy AND sad situation in 2007. Despite promises mid-way through the year that the series would be going monthly AND feature more pages, so far that plan hasn’t actually gone into effect, with the last 3 issues coming out in October, November, and… March 5th 2008. 2007 saw the same 6 sporadically released issues of Powers make it to the rack as did the 6 issues in 2006… At last count there were two issues of the series and an annual that are officially late. With only one issue in the first 3 months of the year it looks like good intentions don’t count for much.

NOV060289 SCALPED #1 (MR) 2.99
2006: Wow. Awkward. I kind of don’t want to put this out for sale on Thursday. Omen for 2007: Vertigo’s new series I Got Jewed does not perform as well as expected.

I had a huge problem with the title of the series Scalped (and probably more-so with the title “incognegro”, a Vertigo original graphic novel last year). But the series is really strong, and continues to sell alright in single issues and trades at the store, with very little of the uproar I was expecting. I’m still not cool with the title though.

NOV062326 UNCANNY X-MEN #482 2.99
2006: The X-Men had a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that left the team changed… FOREVER.
Omen for 2007: The X-Men have a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that leaves the team changed… FOREVER.
Omen for 2008: The X-Men have a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that leaves the team changed… FOREVER.
Omen for 2009: The X-Men have a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that leaves the team changed… FOREVER.
Omen for 2010: The X-Men have a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that leaves the team changed… FOREVER.
Omen for 2011: The X-Men have a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that leaves the team changed… FOREVER.
Omen for 2012: The X-Men have a vibrant creative re-launch spiraling out of a senses-shattering event that leaves the team changed… “WE MADE GODS AND JAILERS BECAUSE WE FELT SMALL AND ASHAMED AND ALONE,” HE SAID. “WE LET THEM TRY US AND JUDGE US AND, LIKE SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER, WE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BE…SENTENCED. SEE! NOW! OUR SENTENCE IS UP.”

Hope springs.

- Christopher

I don’t know if this is ruining the surprise or just making sure you don’t miss it… Eyeshield 21 Vol 19 hits comics shops everywhere tomorrow, and it features a chapter in full colour! Mirroring the Japanese release of the series, this volume features a chapter that ran in full colour in Japanese Shonen Jump, in what looks like a marker/paint combo by series artist Yusuke Murata. It looks great too, crisp and bright and immaculately produced. I kind of want anything I do in colour to show up on matte/uncoated stock I think? Anyway.

While many manga publishers had begun to print the first few introductory pages of a manga in colour on a special insert, it’s very rare indeed to include a full-colour chapter… Other than some of the recent prestige releases like Tekkon Kinkreet, and a very notable sequence at the end of Yotsuba Volume 3, I can’t think of too many other North American manga that have gone to such lengths to preserve the integrity of the original release. Very cool stuff.

- Christopher
Thanks to Derek for the pic.

“The comics industry needs to rectify its historical abuses as best it can, no matter if a court makes them or not. It needs to do this right now. It needs to do it publicly. It needs to do it in a way that honors the creative process… And then, when this is done, it needs to make an unrelenting, industry-wide commitment to the notion that these matters have moral force and that exploitation is intolerable no matter what a legal construction allows. Because there are just as many horrible people out there right now who want creators’ movie rights or who come to the table offering little more than a small advance in order to put their name on someone else’s work, and just as many if not more apologists for same. In a way, it’s hard to blame them. After all, for 70 years, Superman said it was okay.”

Tom Spurgeon
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/what_the_siegel_case_should_mean/

+ Flight contributor and graphic novelist Neil Babra recently completed an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet for the “No Fear Shakespeare” line of graphic novels published by an arm of B&N. The “No Fear” line basically “translates” Shakespearian English into more direct or contemporary English, to make the stories more approachable for young readers. I have a complex array of feelings on the idea of changing the language of Shakespeare without a full modernization, particularly because I don’t think the plot of Shakespeare is as important as the actual language… But that said, I think there’s still value to this approach, both as a study guide and additional learning tool for readers who need a way “into” the works. Luckily Neil has lots of ideas on adaptation, translation, and Shakespeare’s language as well, and he addresses them all on the just completed information page on the No Fear: Shakespeare graphic novel adaptation of Hamlet. It’s really wonderful reading.

Also, I have included a more literal adaptation of my own to My reading of the classic; Neil draws Horatio hot all the way through the book.

+ Has anyone noticed that the new colours on the remastered hardcover edition of Batman: The Killing Joke are kind of boring? Check out this side-by-side comparison of the original colours and the new edition over at PopCultureShock. I think my problem with it is that while artist Brian Boland brings a high degree of craft to the new colouring, he’s drained all of the emotion and… art… out of the work. Little touches like the cast-shadows on the cuffs of the Joker’s sleeves, for example, added more personality and depth to the art than all of the soft airbrush modelling in the world could hope to accomplish. At work my opinion is in the minority, with the majority of customers loving the hell out of the new look. Enh.

+ I’m really glad that Johanna Draper-Carlson put the leg-work in to try and peel away some of the secrecy surrounding comics’ only national holiday (or outreach event…), Free Comic Book Day. I’ve never understood the lack of transparency or accountability that surrounds this event, and I find it incredibly frustrating every single time it rolls around. This time out? The organisation mandated that all books had to be all-ages appropriate, thus reflecting a vision of the industry that doesn’t actually exist. They disallowed the participation of a publisher and then apparently lied about the reasoning (see the comments section). Getting answers is like pulling teeth. They stopped answering. And then somewhat mysteriously retailer Joe Field, the founder of FCBD (before turning it over whole-hog to Diamond), a man who has made very specific mention in the past of his arm’s-length from FCBD, ends up responding to questions that were sent to Diamond.

I’m not one to critisize without putting the work in myself; I do lots of comics outreach. But I think you can do it without the secrecy and misdirection, and a damn site better than what’s gone on. And if Mr. Field wants to ask me for suggestions that generally aren’t followed up on, again, here’s one: Name the people and organizations on the FCBD comittee. Who’s making the decisions, specifically? I’d feel better about the organization and more inclined to support it if decisions weren’t being made behind closed doors, and without any more general consultation of the direct market.

+ My friend Mr. Bryan Lee O’Malley was interviewed on NPR’s “Fair Game” last week about Scott Pilgrim. It’s a fun little interview and it’s the last segment, so fast-forward until there’s about 10 minutes left in the program.

+ The New York Times’ “Papercuts” blog offers up The 7 Deadly Sins of Book Reviewing. In keeping with the form, the 7 sins are particular words that are overused by reviewers and critics to the point of uselessness… Are the standards in comics criticism high enough that something like over-use of word “poignant” is something we have to worry about? I mean, how often are we likely to see the word “lyrical” in the latest plot-recap of last week’s Avengers? Or am I just being a bitch? Or both?

+ At Gay Pop Culture Website AfterElton.com, prominent gay comics fan/writer Lyle Masaki has been covering comics and geek culture turning on the broader gay audience to all that’s gay in comics (though mostly the superhero and Buffy set). “Six Gay Geeks Who’ve Improved Popular Culture” is a recent piece from Lyle that tags comics mainstays like Phil Jimmenez and Andy Mangels for their comics-centric contributions to geek culture. It’s a solid read.

+ I found myself needing to write a short history of comics in North America recently, and found the website The History of Romance Comics to be a really useful compendium of knowledge on some of the most popular and bestselling comics North America has ever seen. Who knew that they also feature a great collection of romance comics reprints as well? Check out their fantastic collection of pre-code romance comics and history articles.

+ Thank you John Jakala for pointing out that Paul Levitz isn’t so hot at the math. Unfortunately, the platform for Mr. Levitz’ creative accounting is the blog & Newsarama, and the comments section there is such a fucking pit that any legitimate criticism of the facts presented in the column is likely to get drowned out by mouth-breathers still angry that every DC comic doesn’t come with bound-in $50 bills. Le Sigh.

+ Finally, though it isn’t specifically about comics I wanted to talk a little bit about bookstore culture… Here in Toronto the bookstore landscape is a-changing. Our neighbors at Ballenford Books on Architecture will be closing their doors in the next few months. They’re currently working to liquidate inventory which means some nice sales on some beautiful books… I really like this store and bookstores in general. It’s always sad when one decides to close their doors.

Meanwhile, one of my favourite indy bookshops is closing as well, but with a happier ending. “This Ain’t The Rosedale Library” will be closing their 22 year old spot in Toronto’s Gay Village, and moving to a smaller (and likely much cheaper) space in Kensington Market. They’re also having a pretty amazing sale right now, with 50% off of the already low prices on remaindered books. I’m going to try to get over there first thing tomorrow…

And that’s it for this post. Thanks for reading!

- Christopher