Goooood morning.

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, Quebec City, Victoria, and Edmonton.

I don’t think you understand what I’m willing to do for the comics.

Anyway, if you, like me, are awake and staring at the Internet, you can track me down at:

http://www.cbc.ca/listen/index.html#

Quebec City at around NOW.

Victoria, BC at around 7:50am

Edmonton, AB at around 8:00am

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7:20am: Okay, I just finished the Quebec City interview, I think that was my favourite so far. I forgot to mention that they’ve been following my segment with Toronto band Moxy Fruvous’ version of the “Spider-Man” cartoon theme, which is kind of hilarious. Maybe it’s only funny because I’m on like 4 hours sleep.

I just realized I’ve given Frank Miller about 5 grand worth of free advertising in the last few hours. Well, him and Marjane Satrapi, so that kind of balances out.

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7:58am: It turns out that the Victoria interview was pre-recorded. It’s going to be airing at 6:15am local time, or 9:15 eastern time.

I’m on hold with them right now for the interview in Edmonton, but the news is on. I imagine I’ll be on air real soon in Edmonton.

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8:07am: Just finished the last interview, and it was pre-recorded so I’ll actually get to listen to it! Alright! Here’s hoping I didn’t “um, uh” too much. I think it’ll be on in the next half hour.
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8:10am: I just remembered, I never linked to my interview on NPR from last week on the New York Comic Con. I was on NPR’s Bryant Park Project and it was a pretty good time and interview. You can check it out at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89803224

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8:23am: I am listening to me.

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8:30am: Fifth time’s the charm. I rocked that one pretty good.

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8:31am: I’m trying to decide if I want to stay up until 9:15am and listen to myself in Victoria, BC, or go home and sleep for a few more hours before I have to come back to work at 11am. I’ll probably stay up, but I think I owe myself a coffee and a muffin, at the very least, so I’m gonna run out and do that and try and get back for 9:15am…

Oh, and since I won’t be updating for about 30 minutes, check out that Moxy Fruvous Spider-Man theme song at Youtube to pass some time:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YUbxcfjG-7s

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8:57am: …and I’m back. 15 minutes until I’m on again. It doesn’t look like any of these shows are archived anywhere, so I figure I’ll go over my key talking points for those of you stumbling on this in my archives, months and years later, wondering what the hell I’m talking about with all of this:

• Iron Man, the movie, opens in theatres today. Traditionally superhero movies have had little-to-no effect on comic sales of related comics.
• We have seen really good sales on graphic novels with a ‘singular creative vision’ that have been adapted into films. Frank Miller’s 300 and Sin City, V For Vendetta, and even Persepolis all benefited (and continue to do so!) from film adaptations.
• I think this is because fans of the Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman, or X-Men movies are fans of those characters, and the movies scratch that itch. It’s also because there are hundreds of product tie-ins for these characters, so if you really like IRON MAN chances are you’ll like the IRON MAN action figures, cartoons, bedsheets, etc. as much as or more than an Iron Man comic.
• That’s not to say that we don’t hope for new readers or sales. It just hasn’t traditionally been the case.

  also, having just listened to me on the radio again, additional points I made:

• We are trying to push the diversity of the medium.
• The Beguiling is set up more like a bookstore than a ‘traditional’ comic book store.
• Kids like Manga, everyone else likes all kinds of comics.
• The average superhero comic fan is a dude 18-34 or older.
• It’s a fantastic time to be interested in the medium.
• Free Comic Book Day is a positive thing, and you should go and get free comic books.

9:20am: Listening to myself again, this one might have been my best interview of the day. I wonder what all of these local shops think of some guy from Toronto talking about their free comic book day events. Maybe that’s why the rest of the country hates Toronto? Anyway. That was a good interview. YEAH. COMICS.

Which isn’t to say that I am not still a comics-hating misanthropist talking shit about your beloved childhood memories. I totally am. But, yeah. Three hours of interviews talking up the best aspects of the comics industry and steering away from questions like [paraphrasing] ‘Do nerds hate it when movies don’t get the details right in superhero movies?’ That’s a productive morning.

Now, to plan for our Free Comic Book Day events.

Thanks for reading,

– Christopher