January 27, 2012
Conversational Euro-Comics: Bart Beaty In Angouleme 02
If you were one of those people who heard
Art Spiegelman would be
having a show at
Angouleme this year and thought "Hmm, that sounds interesting; I should go," well, there's still time to catch a plane.
I've seen big shows of Spiegelman's art (
Masters of American Comics) and intimate shows of his art (
Galerie Martel) and I've never seen anything like this. More than 700 items -- some of them never before displayed. A perfectly arranged space (by
Rena Mattotti). This is the best presidential show in the 16 years I've been coming, and probably top two or three overall.
Other exhibits are hit and miss, but more overall hits than misses.
Dupuis is not here (again), and
Soleil has vacated its huge tent to join
Dargaud,
Casterman and
Delcourt in the "main" tent. Busy on day one, but not painfully. Crowd seems down, but it did on Thursday last year, too.
The manga/US comics tent is a ghost town with the major manga publishers not present. The love affair with manga has seemingly ended.
Le Nouveau Monde, the indy/alt tent, has been enlarged. Lots of good books.
Weather is good. Mood is convivial. Vive le France!
*****
To learn more about Dr. Beaty, or to contact him,
try here.
Those interested in buying comics talked about in Bart Beaty's articles might try
here.
*****
*****
*****
posted 5:30 am PST |
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Go, Look: Some Early Thimble Theatres
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Chris Britt Let Go From Springfield's State Journal-Register
Alan Gardner at
Daily Cartoonist caught that the editorial cartoonist Chris Britt has been dismissed from his staff position at the
State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois. You can see Britt's devoted page
here, including a bunch of local/regional issue work and a special focus on state legislative issues. An unabashed liberal-perspective cartoonist, Britt is syndicated by Creators and was a former client of Copley News Service. He's been cartooning since 1990 and was in his current position for I believe a little over a dozen years. The reason for his firing seems to be straight-up economics; the paper apparently owes a lot of money to its creditors. A recent report on the state of editorial cartooning indicated that the number of fully-staffed practitioners could fit in a standard college classroom (about 40 people), so every loss is going to be even more deeply felt despite the numbing effect of so many cartoonists losing similar positions over the last decade.
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Go, Look: Two Visually Appealing Old Comics
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ICv2.com Talks To Atom Freeman About Valiant's DM Outreach
Much of
this conversation with Atom Freeman at the comics business news and analysis site ICv2.com is couched in marketing speak and vague generalities of the "I can't say but it's going to be huge" variety, but there a few comments from the newly-hired Sales Manager at Valiant that jumped out at me.
One of those comments is that ICv2.com seems to support the release that came with Freeman's hiring that there are 2500 direct market retail outlets right now, which isn't something I knew (I'm sure that information is out there, but I hadn't thought about it and would have been stumped if pigeonholed). Another is that Freeman says that the retailers with whom he's talked -- about 500, according to a statement in the piece -- aren't high on Valiant using the kind of returnables strategy that was touted as a significant part of DC's New 52 relaunch.
A third thing in the pieces is that Freeman touts his hiring and the comics propers of the general Valiant team. I know that last is the kind of thing can make people roll their eyes, but part of the way Freeman phrases it makes me wonder if this might -- might -- be what I'd call a reduced media expectations publishing endeavor: businessmen that aren't necessarily in comics to prime the pump for that sweet, sweet movie money -- less of a realistic outcome than ever, given the huge number of properties angling for media transference and the general cost-cutting era settling into Hollywood right now -- but because of the low cost relative to other entertainment endeavors of a sustainable publishing program. Actually, I have no idea if this company is like that or not, and there's every reason to think this one isn't just on general principle (in fact, it seems more likely we'll see, say, another targeted-for-videogames company before we see a targeted-for comics long-haul company; plus comics is tougher than ever right now), but I imagine at some point we'll start to see a couple of companies more invested in the comics than the dedication or lack thereof we've seen embodied in the seemingly endless variations of the Tekno model that have sifted to the surface for the last decade and a half.
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Go, Look: Never Enough Wolverton
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Go, Read: Gary Groth On Carl Barks Series Strategies
There's a lengthy comment
here from Fantagraphics' Gary Groth underneath a
TCJ review of the
Lost In The Andes book where the publisher goes into some detail about the various moves they've made with their Carl Barks series and why. You almost never get to hear about reprint series in this way, and they're such a huge part of the market I thought some of you might be interested in that perspective. For instance, Groth notes the volumes are numbered, just not where we can see them (although they will be more clearly seen in reprints and subsequent releases). Groth's statement about seeing his company's time with the Barks material as one in a series of efforts republishing that material is enlightening, too.
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If I Were In Richmond, I'd Go To This
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Forthcoming Comics-Related Events, This Month And Next
January 28
*
If I Were In NYC, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Concord, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Los Angeles, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Los Angeles, I'd Go To This
January 29
*
If I Were In Yorba Linda, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were Near Waldorf, I'd Go To This
*****
February 2
*
If I Were In Portland, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In New York City, I'd Go To This
February 3
*
If I Were In East Lansing, I'd Go To This
February 4
*
If I Were In East Lansing, I'd Go To This
February 7
*
If I Were In New York, I'd Go To This
February 9
*
If I Were In Portland, I'd Go To This
February 11
*
If I Were In Berkeley, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In London, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Seattle, I'd Go To This
February 15
*
If I Were In London, I'd Go To This
February 17
*
If I Were In Florida, I'd Go To This (MegaCon)
February 18
*
If I Were In Florida, I'd Go To This (MegaCon)
*
If I Were In Telford, I'd Go To This
February 19
*
If I Were In Florida, I'd Go To This (MegaCon)
February 23
*
If I Were In San Francisco, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Glasgow, I'd Go To This
February 24
*
If I Were In Oakland, I'd Go To This
February 25
*
If I Were In London, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Cardiff, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Oakland, I'd Go To This
February 26
*
If I Were In London, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Cardiff, I'd Go To This
*
If I Were In Oakland, I'd Go To This
*****
ONGOING
*
Black And White And Read All Over, Cartoon Art Museum (through May 12)
*****
This post is designed to list events through January 2012, including ongoing exhibits. If you don't see your event above, perhaps check out the future listings here. If it's not listed anywhere,
*****
*****
*****
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What Marvel-Era Wally Wood Breakdowns Looked Like
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Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* if you're going to read one blog post today, make it
Gary Tyrrell's write-up on R Stevens' recent sojourn into packaging books of his cartoons for various Internet platforms. If you're not a webcomics person, maybe try R Fiore's
review of The Someday Funnies.
* Jen Vaughn discusses the recent visit to the Center For Cartoon Studies by
Paul Pope and Sam Hiti. Sarah McIntyre has a report up from
Craig Thompson's visit to London.
* Graeme McMillan
remembers being baffled by the Bill Sienkiewicz run on
New Mutants.
* Bart Croonenborghs talks to
RM Guéra. Someone at
Study Group talks to
Maré Odomo. Alex Fitch talks to
Craig Thompson. Chris Sims talks to
Paul Tobin. Michael Doran talks to
James Robinson.
* Abhay Khosla finds
some cool-looking Marshall Rogers art.
* Warren Ellis on
Saga #1. Brian Cronin on
Journey Into Mystery #93. Philip Shropshire on
Wizzywig Vol. 2. J. Caleb Mozzocco on
various comic book-type comics. Sean Gaffney on
Short Cuts Vols. 1-2. Richard Bruton on
Chloe Noonan Monster Hunter Colour Special. BK Munn on
Comics Class.
* Daryl Cagle pulls out for notice
a short collection of State Of The Union-related cartoons. It's always interesting to see how different cartoonists take on a subject like that one.
* not comics:
is it too late to roll back piracy?
* also not comics: I'm not sure if it showed up on a prominent blog or what, but a couple of people in the last couple of days have sent me links to
that Simpsons art reference Internet Classic.
* the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
announces its membership package and reveals its membership card for 2012.
* finally, I had no idea there was
a Bizarro Joker.
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Happy 55th Birthday, Frank Miller!
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Happy 47th Birthday, Sean Phillips!
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Happy 53rd Birthday, Stefan Petrucha!
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Happy 60th Birthday, Steve Leialoha!
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Happy 58th Birthday, Peter Laird!
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Happy 50th Birthday, Richard Starkings!
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January 26, 2012
Conversational Euro-Comics: Bart Beaty In Angouleme 01
By Bart Beaty
Dateline: Angouleme
For the 39th time, the last Thursday in January brings the world of comics to a city on a hill in western France. This year, more than any in a decade, it is an American festival, with
Art Spiegelman occupying the post of honorary president and a wave of American cartoonists (
Chris Ware,
Joe Sacco,
Josh Neufeld,
Charles Burns... ) in attendance.
FIBD hasn't had an American "president" since
R. Crumb in 2000, so it is hard to imagine how the show might be different.
One of the highlights of each year's FIBD are the exhibitions. Two potential blockbusters this year are the Spiegelman and RAW shows. The Spiegelman retrospective is a once in his lifetime event, as he says he doesn't want to go through this effort again: it will travel to Paris, Germany and the US (at least) later. The other big show is a retrospective of
Fred, whose
Philemon books have recently received a beautiful reprinting in three volumes. The sheer number of shows seems down this year, an effect perhaps of declining budgets.
Having passed the previous few days in Paris, it seems clear to me that the book-selling crisis will continue to dominate conversations. The comics shops of Rue Dante seemed to offer fewer innovations than in recent years, so I am hoping that exciting wares will be on offer at the show itself. French comics seem to be in a bit of a lull, with many of the highest profile works on sale being translations (Sacco occupying a lot of retail space) or stalwarts of the 1990s generation (notably
Christophe Blain).
The schedule is roughly this: Today the show opens and the crowd will be busy, but manageable. People will be friendly. Tomorrow every school child in the region arrives on a field trip and they move in packs. Crowd is crazy and nerves are jangled by the presence of young people. Saturday
tout le monde is in Angoumerde and the lines make it like Disney World on the Fourth of July. Hell on earth. Sunday the prizes are awarded, but I will have split the scene -- like all sane people, I will already be on a plane over the Atlantic by the time the winners are announced.
A final word on
the prizes: over the past decade Angouleme has renamed and reframed their prizes about eight times, settling this year on a system that makes absolutely no sense at all in which about eighty books are nominated. In my mind, and the minds of many people I know, they have ruined them, making the prize totally meaningless. As a jury prize, they were never very predictable, but this year is a crapshoot. Best guess? Something American will win. It's America's year, after all.
*****
To learn more about Dr. Beaty, or to contact him,
try here.
Those interested in buying comics talked about in Bart Beaty's articles might try
here.
*****
*****
posted 8:00 am PST |
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Go, Look: DC 1970s Tarzan Cover Gallery
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Notes On Recent, Rolling Discussions Of Piracy And Economics
*
Tim Hodler drives our attention to
this post by Heidi MacDonald that links up a bunch of recent Internet discussion and activity on the subject of general comic-book industry economics, with piracy as the main, driving force of that conversation.
* I reject wholeheartedly the notion floated in Heidi's post that I was making any variation of a "comics people are broken people" argument by suggesting that comics people are anxious about the future right now. I think comics people are worried not because they're broken, wacky folk, but because they genuinely have a lot of things to be worried about. Comics is an historically exploitative industry, saddled with certain unrealistic expectations as to profit and reach, facing a time of fundamental changes in the way art is processed. I stand behind what I actually said in that short statement: that I think people are anxious and that this anxiety is driving a lot of the particular dramatics in various comics-related news stories right now -- including gossipy "news" about dissolving creative teams. I think the resulting super-touchy, contentious comments thread underneath Heidi's post strongly underlines my point.
* whenever the subject of piracy comes up, I have to admit my personal difficulty in processing that issue the way it seems to be automatically processed -- as an economics of comics issue. I've never seen it that way, and I reject some of the assumptions that drive the conversation in that direction. I see piracy first and foremost as a violation of a creator's right to control what they've made and how it's sold, or their right to cede control over those decisions to an individual or institution of their choosing. I think the arguments on all sides that cast piracy as an economics issue assume that just by making something, a creator is entering into some unnamed compact that it be sold at maximum profit, thus opening up the floodgates of analysis as to how this is best achieved. I don't think this is true of my work, such as it is; I don't think it's true of a lot of folks' work. Further, I think once an artist lets us know what their aims are, those wishes are more important than the final result if we had sussed out the desired final result on our own or even if we think our final result is a better one for the creator. I think assuming control over someone else's work is wrong whether you make the creator $10 or cost them $10.
* on the other hand, I am greatly sympathetic to the argument, most recently articulated in lengthy fashion
by David Brothers on his blog and
on Twitter by Ivan Brandon, that the issue of piracy may serve as a smokescreen obscuring a lot of broader, more important issues that shape the current economic prospects for comics. I think this includes both structural issues and definite policy and strategy choices made by cartoonists and major industry players. I have a variation of my problem with cost analysis as applied to piracy here in that I think some things are wrong independent of how they may be argued to bottom-line benefit a creator or institution. For instance, I think the routine exploitation of creators -- past and present -- is wrong even if some of those creators are able to pay their bills more effectively than creators that enjoy greater freedom, because I think exploitation is an unnecessary evil. But in general, I agree with the notion that there are certainly more pressing, more
distressing problems for comics-makers than people downloading comics somewhere.
* my big caveat as to where piracy stands in the constellation of today's issues, though, is that I'm open to the idea that the issue of comics piracy may be a
crucial problem because of the fragile state of comics economics and the way that a relatively small shift in consumption and economic support might damage a system that's already strained in order to maximize profit in a direction that mostly flows away from the creators. I think it's pretty clear who bears the cost right now of any drop in profit levels no matter what the cause, and I would argue the first folks in line to shoulder a greater burden usually aren't a company's major shareholders. I also think that the future of major media conglomerate investment in the relatively modest margins of intellectual property development through the current model of comics publishing isn't a sure bet in the longterm for as long as it depends on that kind of profit expectation. It's a good bet, I think, particularly if you look at the bigger picture; it's just not a certain one, particularly as short-term goals tend to overwhelm longer ones across our culture. So I understand the attention, even if I believe the issue is much less complex than is frequently portrayed.
* in the end, we might admit that it's sort of fun to expound on various issues of the day and to make sweeping proclamations about The Future, or Why Everything Is Messed Up, or even Why What You're Doing Is Wrong If Not An Outright Denial Of Reality. Hell, "piracy" is even an entertaining word to type. I suspect, however, there's nothing all that glamorous or enjoyable to be found in the various tonics to all that ails the world of comics, and that things are bad enough we should maybe give up the search for a magic bullet, pick up a gun, and just start shooting. I believe it's still all about ethics in business and excellence in art, and finding ways to best facilitate both things in a way that supports and celebrates with dignity the best of what the medium has to offer. Every step in that direction seems to me worth taking; how broken you are matters less than how you move forward. Whether you're right or not matters less than what can be done.
posted 7:00 am PST |
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Go, Look: Even More From Sex Rears Its Lovely Head
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The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Cons, Shows, Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* it's really pretty much all
Angouleme right now, and deservedly so. Bart Beaty's festival preview should be at the top of the blog by the time the cycle of news runs its course this morning. Matthias Wivel is apparently reporting on the show for
The Comics Journal.
* my guess is that we've reached a saturation point with people on Twitter and the tools used to supplement tweets that the real action is going to be there. For instance, I harbor no illusions this site will have the Grand Prix winner up before a big chunk of North American fans learn about it via their twitter feeds, no matter how early I get up on Sunday or how vigilant I am in watching my e-mail and the French-language news sites.
* as if to underscore that point, looking at Twitter for ten seconds just now
yields three photos from
Gary Northfield, the last one a great shot of Art Spiegelman standing next to Francoise Mouly (I think) and catching a smoke.
* two hashtags to follow:
#fibd2012 and
#Angouleme. I'm guessing the latter is where you're going to get a lot of the North Americans and English people updating.
*
Forbidden Planet International has a write-up on what people are seeing there. The exhibits-focus of shows like Angouleme is an obvious distinguishing factor between those shows and the North American ones (there are tons of others, of course).
* I usually make a prediction about the next Grand Prix winner, allowing Dr. Beaty to riff off of whatever goofy thing I say to make a much better prediction, but I got nothing this year. You can pivot from a winner like Spiegelman in all sorts of directions. I imagine that they'll go for someone very much at the heart of current French alt-comics. I would, anyway.
* not a lot else springs to mind that couldn't wait for next week: Graeme McMillan
takes a look at Marvel's official convention schedule. That sounds about right to me, actually. They don't do a lot of official shows. Depending on the presence of their various pros at non-official shows, it's almost like Marvel is exhibiting: I expect there will be panels to satisfy the Marvel fan attending the Emerald City Con, for instance.
* finally, I don't know that I ever ran Spiegelman's poster image for this year's big show. I quite like it. Spiegelman sent out an e-mail when he arrived in France that one of the perks of the show was that he was being described as an underground cartoonist again in the ramp-up. I hope everyone has a great time over there.
posted 6:00 am PST |
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Go, Look: Warwick Goble
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Geoffrey Hook Receives Medal Of The Order Of Australia
The cartoonist
Geoffrey Hook is
making the media rounds in Australia after
being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia. The Tasmanian-born cartoonist began his career in 1961, becoming firmly ensconced at the
Herald Sun (I believe it was just the
Sun then) in the mid-1960s. Retired to frequent freelancing starting in 1993, Hook was at his most influential in the mid-1970s. The award is
a civilian honor given for outstanding service.
posted 5:00 am PST |
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Go, Read: Back To Work
posted 4:30 am PST |
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