Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* there have been a few stories and blog mentions about the great cartoonist Lat's recent trip to the United States, all of which have been fairly adorable. I'd never heard the story in this one that he was once paid for art in tickets to Shaw Brothers movie. The more newsworthy element is that more European-language editions of his books are in the works.

* it's probably just me, but I never know what to think about feature stories like this one.

* it looks like the writer Peter David will be attending the convention that had told him they didn't have the money to bring him there after using his name in early advertisements. Looks like they found more money, and David heard from enough fans who had bought non-refundable tickets that were looking forward to meeting him that he'll attend. The original communication from the convention to David threw a spotlight over the problems that comics professionals have in dealing with conventions, particularly smaller ones.

* there is no one cooler than Creig Flessel, a cartoonist of a generation far enough in our nation's past that as a child he worked with his father who was a blacksmith, and so I'm glad to see him honored by the Cartoon Art Museum.

* if you haven't been paying attention, Marvel's really ramped up portions of its on-line presence in the last six months, to I believe good result. This ad partnership should provide more opportunities, and is yet another example of how Marvel has pressed its movie and publishing successes into what seem like beneficial partnerships other than past business arrangements many of which seemed second-rate.

* this is barely comics, but a nice story nonetheless; could comics at some point do something targeted to urban school libraries?

* the comics business news and analysis site ICv2.com notes that Tokyopop will early next year raise the prices on its Blu imprint to $12.99 a copy, confirms this is where other companies are with their yaoi titles, and asserts that this reflects their relative scarcity in the marketplace. I would also guess this suggests these book are aimed at people willing to pay the extra money and feel they're still getting good value in doing so. Pricing is a big deal with manga; like the landscaped comic strip successes of the late 1970s, manga has as part of its success portfolio a format/price component in addition to markers regarding content.

* a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 was sold at auction for $227,000 late last week. According to one of those plastic-sealer companies, the comic book featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man was well-preserved. I have no idea what spending that much money on a comic book means, although it can't be good. I'm mostly relieved that comics has progressed as a medium to read and enjoy to the point where this isn't the #1 news story of the month.
 
posted 10:02 pm PST | Permalink
 

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