Category: Culture

Just received from Archie Comics in a press release:

“Ever since Archie’s first appearance in 1941, Archie Comics has prided itself with keeping up with the fads and fashions of the times.  That includes technology.  Photocopiers, fax machines, microwaves, video players, compact music players, the internet. you name it. Archie Comics has been there through every innovation, exploring each with hilarious humor as the classic cast of characters both utilize and wrestle with modern technology.  This March, several stories highlight the latest gadgets in goofy fashion, as only Archie Comics can!”

The part that they forgot to mention is that they are consistently 10 years behind in doing so. For example, I present the rest of the press release:

“ARCHIE #595: “Home Insecurity”: After robbers break into his safe, Mr. Lodge upgrades his security system to protect his property. but who will protect him from the ever-pervasive new system?!”

I hate to be all “Simpsons Did It”, but just in terms of “keeping up with the fads” The Simpsons did wacky-home-security-antics with Pierce Brosnan 2 years ago. Yikes.

Other issues that month will have (not joking) Archie addicted to text messaging, Betty & Veronica joining “The Geek Squad” (like Best Buy! Only not-litigious!), and Reggie having some sort of problem with camera phones. I hear Archie might even get Vista for Christmas… next year.

Watch out Ellis, Archie’s nipping at your body-modified, cybernetically-enhanced heels.

– Chris

“Update: Simon and Schuster representatives wrote CR Monday evening claiming that the number of images used in the publication of this interview (eight, including cover) Sunday morning surpassed the number of images they allow anyone to use for free.” – Tom Spurgeon, Comics Reporter.

Brazil… When hearts were entertaining June, we stood beneath an amber moon and softly whispered ‘Someday soon’. We kissed and clung together then; tomorrow was another day. The morning found me miles away with still a million things to say. Now when twilight dims the skies above recalling thrills of our love there’s one thing I’m certain of: Return, I will, to old Brazil!

– Christopher

I don’t know why everyone keeps going on about this “Archaia Studios Press” being bought out… I had thought it was the publisher of Publisher of Mouse Guard being bought out… Or at the least, The Publisher of Mouse Guard and they’ve got some good French licenses as well. I mean sure, The Publisher of Mouse Guard is publishing other books, and they’re all produced by nice-enough folks and there’s a general level of quality to the line which speaks well of managing editor Mark Smylie. But The Publisher of Mouse Guard publishes Mouse Guard, which is a phenomenally successful indy publishing story, possibly the best-selling indy comic of the past few years. It’s sold tons and tons in hardcover, and the soft cover edition was published and distributed by an imprint of Random House, Villard Books, which is a pretty big deal. So why hasn’t anyone mentioned Mouse Guard in all of these proceedings, then?

Let’s just throw some actual facts out there:

– ASP apparently had a great, great creator ownership contract. (Except for a strange non-compete clause).

– Mouse Guard sold a fuck-tonne of books, which would mean ASP would either have paid or would owe Mouse Guard creator David Petersen a fuck-tonne of money, because again, that contract was pretty good.

– David Petersen hasn’t updated his blog since July 30th, wherein he won two Eisner Awards. I haven’t seen any public comment from him anywhere throughout this whole ordeal or since that time.

-  Despite books continuing to dribble out from ASP over the past few months, despite the restructuring, we haven’t seen a new issue of Mouse Guard, with the second series stalled at 3 issues (of a projected six) since February 26th, 2008.

– Mouse Guard is ASP’s best selling book.

– If they’re in a situation of financial uncertainty, and they are publishing books occasionally, why aren’t they publishing their best selling book?

– Everyone, everyone, wants that second Mouse Guard collection. Diamond Book Distributors devoted more of their Book Expo America booth to Mouse Guard as a property than any of the other publishers). You know Diamond wants it. I bet ASP wants that second book. Villard too, probably. Booksellers want it (I want it).

So where is it? I can only imagine that whoever acquires ASP will want that book, that money, and the rights to make toys and cartoons based on the series too, and if I had to hazard a guess, that would be a big part of why we aren’t seeing it… Of course, that brings up the fact that no issues of the series have shipped since the end of February, and the “media rights” contract is a fairly recent development. Something else is going on.

I guess what I’m getting at here is that it’s fascinating that the crown jewel of the ASP line hasn’t been mentioned in any of these discussions; it’s the elephant in the room with an army of tiny adorable mice riding its back. If someone told me all 9 issues of Mouse Guard published to date sold more than every other comic book ASP has published combined, I wouldn’t even blink–I certainly know that’s true for us at the store, in our limited experience. I’d go so far as to say that the vast majority of the reason one would want ASP, and demand partial ownership of all of their properties, is solely to get a hold of Mouse Guard.

So let’s move from statements of fact to a line of questiong:

– What if you were the guy that owned the most successful indy book in years?

– What if your publisher went from a “fair” or even “generous” contract, to one that met the “industry standard” in an industry where that standard wallows in a sewer, rights-wise, most of the time?

– Where you were now expected to give up all of your media rights without so much as a bidding war, despite the fact one is very-much called for?

– Would you sign that contract?

– What if that “Industry Standard Contract” was a lie, in an industry with Image, or First Second Books, or even Villard (with whom you’re already working)? Where not every publisher demands those rights from you? In fact, factoring mainstream book publishers, most pubs don’t make those requests of you.

– What if almost anyone in the industry would publish your book on your terms, just because it would make them so much money on the publishing alone?

– What if not signing the new ASP contract meant that you couldn’t put out your series again for a year, or more, because of a “non-compete” clause in your original contract?

– What if that derailed the intense momentum of your series? Made it so that you couldn’t meet the deadlines of your other contracts with Random House? Severly disrupted your cashflow, your work schedule?

– Would you sign it then?

– How would you feel being put in that position?

It’s very easy to forget the human face behind words like “Strongarm Tactics” and “Industry Standard Contracts”. It’s easy to forget that PR spin is just that: spin. It’s easy to forget that just because someone describes something as “Industry Standard” doesn’t make it true… That just because one creator is willing to sign a bad contract (see: Platinum, Tokyopop, etc.) doesn’t mean that every creator is obligated to. That silence does not mean consent.

So how would I answer my own questions up there? Simply, I’d just go ahead and start publishing again, that second collection through Villard, and let Random House’s massive team of lawyers take all comers… If there were any contention at all of course. Sometimes legal posturing is just posturing. I think that would be the way to go, and it would minimize the interuption to my creativity, my cashflow, and my life. Because it’s coming up on February 26th again soon.

But then I guess we won’t know until The Author of Mouse Guard speaks up. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

– Chris
All art from Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, by David Petersen. Theoretically Copyright 2008 David Petersen.

Above is Pascal “White Rapids” Blanchet’s poster image decrying the arts and culture funding cuts perpetrated by Stephen Harper a few weeks before he called an election. It’s a lovely image, isn’t it? Feel free to spread it around a little…

More on the lovely work of Pascal Blanchet at http://www.pascalblanchet.ca/.

– Christopher

Hey, I actually got a chance to check out some of Kramers Ergot 7 while I was in San Diego. It was already on my buy list, honestly, because I’ve got all the other ones and the creative line-up sounds amazing. But the stuff that I’ve read and glanced at is really is top-notch… It’s probably going to make things worse, not better, if this thing is really good right? Like, people will be more upset that they can’t afford it? I can’t tell if it being good will make people more or less angry about the price. Maybe if it’s bad they’ll be happier, because that’ll justify their insane hating? Or passive-aggressive non-opinions?
Actually, haha, actually the whole argument reminds me of an Achewood comic where roast beef gets a new shirt. He gets this shirt from a girl who likes him and he tries it on and feels pretty good. Then:

Except it’s not just in his head, those are real people doing that. For tonight’s performance, the roles of the angry cartoon animals that exist inside the depressed cat’s imagination will be played by people in the comics industry. It’s kind of amazing and awful at the same time? Like, people gathered down to shout-down a project that they personally feel is too ostentatious? Can you imagine if this happened in other media? Like people protesting The Batman movie because Christopher Nolan didn’t remake the Adam West one? Haha… So sad/awful/amazing.

Keep hope alive, guys.

– Chris

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/politics/16846195/detail.html

SAN DIEGO — A $125,000 donation in support of an anti-gay marriage initiative by a San Diego hotelier has drawn the ire of gay and lesbian activists and local labor unions who are now calling for a boycott.

Organizers held a news conference in front of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, near Seaport Village, on Thursday. A coalition of LGBT community leaders and the labor movement spoke out against Doug Manchester, who contributed a donation in support of Proposition 8, which would allow only men and women to marry in the state of California. The group opposes the ballot measure because it threatens the recent state Supreme Court decision that allows marriage between men and women.

I know it’s unlikely that anyone is canceling a hotel reservation for Comic Con at this late date, but if you wanted to take the time to tell the owner what an asshole he is on those handy comment cards they provide you, or perhaps in other more creative ways, well, I would support your decision.

For my part, the Hyatt can go fuck itself. I’ll be drinking elsewhere. I’d invite you to do the same.
– Christopher, via [JoeMyGod]