It took a little more than the promised week, but some wire reports are surfacing this morning that say back on May 28 Atena Farghadani was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. I don't see the widespread confirmation on English-language news organization sites that I would guess might come with a story like this one, but there has been some stop and start reporting on the story as I've come across it.
Farghadani was arrested and jailed in 2014 after publishing a cartoon in which lawmakers voting against women's health rights were depicted as animals. She went on a hunger and then a thirst strike while jailed (she was at one point kept in the notorious Evin Prison). When released, she criticized the way she was treated and imprisoned again. A trial May 19 was criticized by Farghadani and others for the aggressive treatment by Judge Abu'l-Qasim Salavati, which didn't anyone much hope for a positive outcome.
Farghadani is 28 years old.
As is the case with a lot of people, this strikes me as an appalling decison, a combination of any number of things including a system that has judges like Salivati ensconced within it as little eddies of despair for anyone that gets caught in their pull (Farghadani and her circle were never convinced of a happy result) and laws that remove sitting politicians -- who already have pull over the court system in a lot of countries -- from any kind of criticism for their actions or behavior. She seems to have great potential as the focuse of international outrage, and I hope that whatever needs to happen on her behalf for her to have a better life happens.
Free Speech Stunt In Phoenix Ends Without Serious Incident
Friday's free-speech stunt in Phoenix was heated in terms of the rhetorical back-and-forth but did not end in feared-of violence, according to wire reports. I'm glad cooler heads prevailed.
I don't think much of free-speech stunts. I don't think they're necessary, I think they're frequently a smoke screen for political maneuvering and I think above and beyond those moves play into the hands of people that manipulate politics to unpleasant ends. That said, no one should ever be harmed for expressing an opinion. I can't imagine this changes anyone's minds that perhaps free speech is okay and not threatened, and I imagine we'll have another mosque-proximate event or something like it soon.
Assembled Extra: Personnel Shake-Up At Broken Frontier Andy Oliver has announced via Twitter and press release that he will be taking over as Editor In Chief at the site Broken Frontier. Oliver is a longtime staffer for and contributor to the site. The previous person in that position, Frederik Hautain, moves into a creative director role. The site -- which has been around since 2002! -- recently completed a successful kickstarter for an anthology. The release points to that project as the direction in which that part of the company may go.
Comics By Request: People, Projects In Need Of Funding By Tom Spurgeon
* some really nice industry folks have been contributing to a kind of last push for the campaign started by the writer James Hudnall, who lost his foot during a time of life transition that caused him to have to reach out for help. It looks like this last bit of money will get him back to a part of the country he calls home, where one assumes that both finding work and having support will be easier for him to attain. We wish him the best of luck. Please consider giving.
FFF Results Post #420—Let’s Do It Again
On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Characters From The Comics Where You Like A Later Look Better Than The Initial Character's Look. Describe Briefly Which Look You Liked More." This is how they responded.
*****
Chad Nevett
1. Reed Richards (evil Ultimate Reed Richards)
2. Superman (the Eradicator 'Last Son of Krypton' costume)
3. Adam Warlock (middle age receding hairline Adam Warlock from the "Infinity Abyss" to "Thanos" #6 period of Jim Starlin's Marvel work)
4. Spartan (Jack Marlow businessman complete with Void suit)
5. Thor (The recent Esad Ribic 'present' look from "Thor: God of Thunder")
1. Daredevil (which will be the common denominator on every list you receive because eyes)
2. Elongated Man (the red-and-black costume I still refer to as the "new" one)
3. The Golden Age Robin (that Neal Adams-designed suit with the split cape)
4. Black Widow (the jumpsuit)
5. Sinestro (the most recent yellow-accented redesigns)
1. Batman (Post Knightfall Return of Bruce Wayne Dark Costume)
2. The Flash (Justice League Elite Black Costume)
3. Hawkman (Tim Truman/Alcatena Stormtrooper Costume)LINK:
4. Ghost Rider (90’s Danny Ketch Relaunch)
5. Punisher (Sexy One-Eye Greg Rucka Punisher)
1. The Cockroach (Captain Cockroach)
2. The Cockroach (The Merely Magnificent =hsssss= Moon Roach) His longest period in a single look / identity and the height of his hilarity
3. The Cockroach (Wolveroach)
4. The Cockroach (Punisheroach)
5. The Cockroach (Swoon)
1. Wonder Woman (DC Comics Presents #41: A Bold New Direction For Wonder Woman)
2. Green Lantern (Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn)
3. Atom (Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka reimagining of The Greatest Robot on Earth)
4. Flash (Wally West 1990s version with the darker suit)
5. Supergirl (Linda Danvers version inspired by Superman: The Animated Series)
1- Immortal Iron Fist (The recent Immortal Iron Fist streamlined look with a long sleeve shirt instead of an open shirt looks more appropriate to my millenial eyes)
2- Punk Storm (An interesting and rather sharp redesign: http://slomeau.tumblr.com/image/115862653882)
3- Earth X Captain America (Interesting take on the character as a messiah figure: http://marvel.wikia.com/Steven_Rogers_(Earth-9997) )
4- Doug (From Sugar Skull, he is older, bigger and looks more pathetic than ever before)
5- David Bowman Earthbound (The space god helmet and armor set made hin look like the badass he always wanted to be.)
*****
Marty Yohn
1. Aquaman (the deep blue camouflage suit from 1986)
2. Luke Cage (the current bald look with t-shirt - it's just so bad-ass)
3. Black Widow (the black cat-suit with gold hip belt)
4. Firestorm (Jason Rusch era look without the shorts)
5. Robin (Original Tim Drake version with pants and no pixie boots)
1. Supergirl (The puffy sleeve/short-shorts/choker number.)
2. Green Arrow (The "New Look" Neal Adams design.)
3. Robin (The long pants/black cape design by, again, Neal Adams.)
4. Scarlet Witch (The gypsy costume by George Perez. )
5. Wonder Man (The red leather jacket movie star look.)
*****
Tom Bondurant
1. The Huntress (mid-'90s black-and-purple version)
2. Captain Atom (The Pat Broderick-designed all-chrome look which debuted in the first issue of the 1987 DC relaunch)
3. Supergirl (Mid-'70s blouse-hotpants-boots combo)
4. Green Arrow (The all-green outfit Neal Adams designed around 1969 which lasted into the mid-'80s, with the dark green gauntlets and boots and the distinctive facial hair)
5. Lightning Lad (The costume I think Dave Cockrum designed in the '70s, which was mostly navy blue with a big white patch and lightning bolts coming down from the shoulders)
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. Wolverine (The Days Of Future Past Colonel Logan Look)
2. Wonder Woman (The White Jumpsuits, But Only In The '60s New Wonder Woman Phase)
3. Buddy Bradley (Bald + Eyepatch Look From Annuals)
4. Cyclops (Non-Visor X On Mask They've Used Recently)
5. Shang-Chi (The Simple One-Piece Outfit In Secret Avengers That I Think Maybe David Aja Designed)
Quote Of The Week
"I had nothing against Jim Belushi, really, but living in Chicago in the '80s, he was sort of the quintessential symbol of the way the city thought of itself: as this kind of guy who was both working-class but also a slick Hollywood guy; a guy who was sort of fresh, honest, but not. It was very grating to me. It turns out later that many people agreed with me about that. And I feel sort of bad for him because it wasn't his fault, but he just came to embody this aspect of Chicago that I really disliked." -- Dan Clowes.
*****
the comic image selected is from the brief but notable 1970s run of Seaboard/Atlas
Matt Bors Announces Changes To The Nib
The editorial cartoonist Matt Bors, who was running the well regarded comics site The Nib for Medium, has announced a sweeping structural change in the way that the site The Nib will present work. What was a combination of regular features and occasional one-offs of different size and scope -- some with a life on other platforms -- will become what is roughly described as a more experimental effort dependent on the networking aspects of what Medium does.
I'm sad to see many of these cartoonists lose the eyeballs and whatever financial reward was involved; it's brutally tough out there for cultural and political comics, which was a singificant part of The Nib as initially constituted. Bors did a fine job with that site, at least to my eye. I think I read every single thing published under the old arrangement. My understanding is that the cartoonists with whom he worked were treated honorably. A site that publishes comics that are more wholly dependent on the way on-line media works now as opposed to the way it might have worked ten years ago is very exciting. I look forward to what the site does next.
We still don't know at this time if anyone was let go or if any arrangements were changed on the editorial/financial, or even for sure what exactly triggered the move -- it's the kind of thing that until now might have been the subject of a funny cartoon at The Nib. Contacted by CR before the statement, Bors deferred to Edward Lichty at Medium. Mr. Lichty deferred to Bors' statement at the end of business Friday. If any more information becomes available, I'll pass it along.
Go, Look/Bookmark/Follow: La Grande Guerre the cartoonist Warren Craghead taking his unique approach to comics art and applying it to a 100-years-later treatement of World War I? that's not just a yes, that's a hell yes...
I pray for the best possible, most peaceful outcome here. I extend that to every last person involved but I am particularly pained for the public servants that will likely be dragged into this because some folks are frustrated in a way that makes them want to act on darker impulses. I don't believe in free-speech stunts. I don't think they're necessary, and I think they play into a political construction that's valuable to mad men and destructive social forces in a way that would make someone who just dropped $200 on penny-tossing games at a county fair roll their eyes, point and laugh.
If something does happen, I hope calmer heads mitigate the potential horrors that might result. I also hope any members of the media out there will stop paying specific attention to the personalities involved with this kind of thing in a way that affords them free PR and allows them to accrue power and influence, limited though it may be.
DC Experiments With Return To Partial-Page Ad Placements
I guess between this story by Bleeding Cool a week or so ago and this story by Alexander Lu earlier today derived from a freelancer's tweeting of photos of an example, we know that DC Comics is going to attempt half-page ads that are placed within the flow of a comics story. I guess the mechanism -- and no doubt the the source of the original leak/rumor -- is that creatives have been told to construct pages that allow for this kind of restructuring.
It's not a new approach, as this classic Bat Lash page indicates. In fact, Bat Lash is the only comic that my memory churned up as doing this kind of thing, although that can't be true at all. It's probably more likely it's the only comic of the general period with which I'm familiar. Anyway, go to the Lu link for a look at the new ad placement. It probably doesn't help matters that for some reason it looks like they're using the ugliest, most garish ad ever created. I wouldn't want that on the same coffee table as my work.
It's a weird choice. One of the general narratives for comics within wider culture over the last three decades is that they're a serious vehicle for stories and as such emphasize their artistic accomplishments over being a junky vehicle for advertising. This is a story they tell outside, potential readers, yes; it's also a story they tell the readers they already have, a way of serving them and their conception of comics as a worthwhile activity. I don't know why you'd mess with that. I know I've read recent fan pushback against traditional whole-page advertisements in the flow of the a comic, so I think that sentiment is pretty strong in comics. The comics readership is fragile in a lot of way right now. It doesn't seem out of the question this could be the back-breaking straw for a certain number of readers.
One reason this hasn't been an issue with ads more generally it that print advertising of every kind has dried up to a significant degree: back covers, inside covers, full-page, component-page. It's hard for me to think that a half-page ad with some comics is more appealing than a full-page ad, but I guess someone out there might think so. Artists and writers will adjust; strip-makers routinely follow a kind of baroque structure for multiple Sundays formatting that makes this kind of effort look easy as pie. I can't imagine they'd want to, but a job's a job. It's hard for me to imagine this being around for a long time or becoming popular, but I've been wrong before.
I imagine this will also make companies revisit the idea of ads in trades and in on-line iterations of work, where there would be even more flexibility. Then again, I'm having a hard time seeing much of a future in advertising within narrative content.
Assembled, Zipped, Transferred And Downloaded: News From Digital By Tom Spurgeon
* the writer and critic Zainab Akhtar notes that Jake Wyatt's Necropolis is being run on-line again, as part of an on-line/print hybrid strategy.
* Gary Tyrrell discuses the two on-line winners from the NCS Divisional Awards given out Memorial Day weekend: he approves.
* Akhtar again: it looks like her post here was a source on Steve Morris' mini-report here about Boulet's Notes series spawning an English-language version at Soaring Penguin Press. As I understand it, that series is the primary print home for the Boulet comics that find an initial life on-line through his mega popular Internet accessible efforts of that kind.
* finally, Fantagraphics has re-launched their site, and in celebration would like to make available a variety of items at 20 percent off. That represents a significant amount of work for someone or several people, so consider the kindness of a purchase.
* Hillary Brown talks to Nate Powell. Abraham Riesman talks to Dan Clowes. I like the idea he entertains here that something like plagiarism shouldn't be forgiven, but that also doesn't mean an active, festering grudge.
* I quite liked this Brian Nicholson piece on two very different comics that utilize the two panels on a page approach -- a distinctive and under-used form of comics making.
Go, Read: Laura C. Mallonee And Cartoonists’ Plights, 2015 This article with a pair of publishers by Laura C. Mallonee provides a quick survey of some of the hits that international cartoonists have taken this calendar year. Its brevity might make it a good choice for a quick catch-up as to the shape of things out there. Cartoonists being murdered is its form of noxious evil, but cartoonists having their lives destroyed by court decisions involving money, jail time and physical violence against the person is just as real if a step back from that kind of severe sanction. I'm not sure what can be done: we've seen in Turkey that even focused attention on certain free-speech matters has limits, even with huge inducements at stake. We can never look away, though.
By Request Extra: One More Push For James Hudnall
People in the comics community have been very generous in terms of seeing that some money gets to the writer James Hudnall, who lost his foot just as he was making a life-transition that left him without the usual safety net.
It looks like he's survived the winter and is about ready to head back home, where public assistance will pick up some of the slack. If you're inclined to give or able to, I hope you'll consider it.
Bundled Extra: Icecubes Comic Crowd-Funder On Last Day
One of the more aggressive crowd-funder in my inbox in terms of asking for coverage has been this one for a project called Icecubes. I'm going to watch it on its last day for the reason that it seems like there's been a surge for projects on their last day. Now something as small as this one that could just be manipulate by a couple of outside players, but I think I'm seeing it with bigger projects, too. It seems like the Broken Frontier one roared past the finish line near the end, too, for example. For a model where conventional wisdom says that the two primary surges in publication are right at the beginning and then late when goals are met and stretch goals are being rolled out, an impulse to get people over the line playing a bigger role would be a key change for that whole culture.
Hebdo Update: Anti-Islam Group Seeking Advertising Space For Muhammed Cartoon Generated In Texas Here. I am not a fan of rights stunts, which I think are way, way, way, way, way more about participating in and profiting from a certain kind of political dialogue than they are seriously engaged with the rights themselves, let alone their nuances. No one deserves to be harmed from any expression of thought or artistic impulse; no one deserves to be exposed to upsetting imagery to prove an already self-evident point.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* I always get a wide array of responses to the Denver Comic Con, the 2015 of which just happened. This year a lot of people were talking to me about the women in comics panel with no women, which sounds to me the kind of thing that happens when you're jamming panels in at the last second, and some disbelief of the 100K+ attendance figure. There's always a way to count that gets a show to just about any attendance number they want to hit, so I'm never worried about what conventions report because the standards are so wildly different. One hundred thousand people is a lot of freaking people, though, a mind-melting amount. I hope they had good numbers no matter what they were; I like Denver quite a bit.
* this is probably only me, but looking at those bios -- can we all just get real headshots by the end of this year? In particular, having a cartoon as your headshot seems so 1987 to me. Comics has so many great people in it and people want to function in this more public space or at least have the things that come to people there and it just looks so much better if there's an actual, reasonably professional quality photo representing you than a wacky photo or a piece of art. I know it sounds dumb, but I saw the effect of when comics people started doing real press in the 1990s, how well they came across, and this is a part of that. I look like a thumb with lips and it's still better to see my face than a cartoon.
* I'm just now catching up with this RC Harvey column describing his take on how mainstream comics moved from figure-drawing into more dramatically forthright storytelling techniques. I always listen to Bob Harvey. I also came late to this Michael Cavna piece about Harvey Pekar's appearances on David Letterman's television shows.
* what characters Marvel uses in what titles isn't really something I find interesting, but it's worth a reminder that many of the team books serves as character rehabilitation vehicles, very important given the fact that there's a level of demand for these characters in other media.
* not comics: if you had Woody Harrelson in the Wilson pool, you're lying, you had Paul Giamatti, too. That sounds like it could be a good film. Let's hope. I quite liked that comic. It was very funny.
All Best Wishes To Sam Hiti, Whatever’s Going On With Sam Hiti
If you missed yesterday's comics-culture Internet thing involving the very talented Sam Hiti, this sympathetic essay provides enough information for you to backtrack, I think. (I can't tell if it's by the artist Paul Pope or the person assisting with the site.) Basically: a shut-down of social media accounts belonging to Hiti suggested a death, and for a time no one knew if that death was real or if it was a "career death" until Hiti was reached by phone. Some folks had already memorialized him on Twitter and other social media platforms as if he had physically died. It'll be up to Hiti to speak out on the matter. This site and I assume several others are open to him if he wants a platform not of his own creation.
I think this is one of those things where people are fully justified in flashing anger at Hiti. I felt anger, too. People shouldn't do that to other people. The Internet stuff with Hiti flared up just as several folks were processing the very real death of the warm and generous wordless comics scholar David Beronä. I imagine many of Hiti's peers were also friendly with the late Seth Kushner, recently deceased and surely in the thoughts of several folks out there. At the same time, as the essay points out, comics can be devastatingly difficult. At some point anyone with the experience of trying to find recognition and reward for their own talent within comics will likely sympathize, at least a little bit, with wanting to kill off that whole aspect of their life.
It's okay to have both reactions. It's okay to have one more than other. I think the big story of comics right this moment is how to claw our way to an infrastructure and rewards system that honors the talent out there more than it exploits or ignores it. No culture and no industry can make everyone's dreams come true, but perhaps they can minimize casualties.
Bundled Extra: The Beat On Fantagraphics Publishing A Slipcased Collection Of Wimmen’s Comix Heidi MacDonald has a nice write-up here about Fantagraphics publishing a slipcased collection of Wimmen's Comix this Fall. That has a murderer's row of great cartoonists and like many of the anthologies such as Witzend and the later Kurtzman magazine has a reputation divorced from a significant number of people actually seeing the work.
I think it's a great time to publish that one, too, just talent-wise. Phoebe Gloeckner, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Trina Robbins (who will edit this edition), MK Brown and Diane Noomin have higher profiles right this moment than they did five years ago, at least to my eye, and there are bunch of cartoonists in there that will greatly reward re-examination. One thing that's great about that series was that unlike the boy-heavy anthologies it lasted over a couple of generations of cartoonists in a way that I'm not sure we have with any other anthology, not as dramatically, anyway, and not the underground/alt transition quite as fully (Weirdo comes close, but doesn't have the undergrounds in the more heavily underground era).
* this crowd-funder sent to me by Ed Kanerva features two things I know almost nothing about -- indie games and music -- but also a record sleeve by Michael DeForge. DeForge I know. The look of the game is cartoony, too, if that makes a difference.
* Stephanie McMillan is a little over halfway to an affirmation calendar, one day per affirmation. That is something with a proud background in terms of cartoonists doing them, as anyone who ever visited a post office window in the '80s or '90s can attest.
This Isn’t A Library: Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market
*****
Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.
I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.
*****
APR150977 POPE HATS #4 (MR) $7.95
This is a serial comic, even though it's priced like a small book. In my dream world mainstream comics would be $2 and alt-comics $4, but my dream worlds are always 20 years out of touch. I've enjoyed all the Ethan Rilly comics I've ever read and I'm sure to enjoy this one as well. As a fan of serial comic book, this would be my special buy of the week, the reason I went into the store.
MAR150332 YOU DONT SAY GN $19.99
The very prolific Nate Powell gets a collection that I think will allow us to track his development while at the same time expose as to a few rarities of the early to mid 2000s publishing wise. I would assume much of this IDW book is made possible by the success of March, and if that's the case, good for March.
MAR150594 SEX #21 CVR A KOWALSKI (MR) $2.99 MAR150595 SEX #21 CVR B NGUYEN (MR) $2.99 MAR150596 SEX #21 CVR C MAHFOOD (MR) $2.99 MAR150605 THEYRE NOT LIKE US #6 (MR) $2.99 MAR150713 ALL NEW HAWKEYE #3 $3.99 FEB151276 KING FLASH GORDON #4 $3.99 DEC141340 KING PRINCE VALIANT #2 $3.99
That's a real mixed batch of comic books, mostly stuff I want to try rather than stuff I'm already buying. I'm furthest in on Sex, actually, and I'm still interested where its mix of explicit comics and 1980s world-building is going. It's like Howard Chaykin's Mr. X. I've been buying They're Not Like Us for Simon Gane's art, and the narrative still feels to me like it hasn't fully started yet. I haven't seen any of the Jeff Lemire-written Hawkeye yet, but I like Lemire on those kinds of comics so this would be the week I will likely rectify that. I also have a fascination for these two King comics, as the narratives are so different. Big exploration week.
MAR151423 LOUISE BROOKS DETECTIVE HC $15.99
I'm charmed by the Amazon.com book description that includes the killer line "this graphic novel by Rick Geary is spun around her actual brief meteoric career as a smoldering film actress who popularized bangs," but basically they had me at Rick Geary. I've been reading all of his old-timey comics whenever I can. He has an interesting way of unpacking a story which works very well for historical crime narratives. Plus I'm fond of actors like Brooks; the churn of celebrity back then is almost wholly different than it is now.
MAR151357 USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 02 SAMURAI $16.99 APR151853 YOTSUBA & ! GN VOL 01 NEWER PTG $13.00
These are the two reprints I'd explore if I hadn't started either. Volume 2 is where Sakai settled into more of the creator's voice he's used for the last 25 years. The Yotsuba&! is charming, and never more so than in the first volume -- in fact, I could recommend that as a sample, if you do that kind of thing.
MAR150862 INFINITE BOWMAN GN (MR) $15.00
I've only seen Aulisio's work in fits and starts, although the visual imagination and confident sense of humor seems like it's bigger-book ready. This is your newer talent blind purchase recommendation -- I think Aulisio's still 28. You can get an idea of what you're in for here, although the Infinite Bowman entries dance in and out of the others.
*****
The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.
To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.
The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.
If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.
Here. Dame Darcy is one of the more entertaining human beings to make a lot of comics, and this article reflects her current creative slate. I'm happy she's making work in whatever medium she chooses. Darcy was one of the few emerging cartoonists in the mid-1990s to keep a serial comic rather than shifting over to original graphic novel making. I thought the end result was ideal in Darcy's case in that she became a much more interesting cartoonist almost issue to issue, and I'm not sure the development would have been the same for a big burst of pages resulting in a 150- or 200-page book. Long live the Dame.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* missed this Rob Kirby report from the Queers & Comics conference in New York City. I'm all for whatever types of meetings and presentations and festivals as it's possible to put on a calendar.
* I greatly enjoyed reading Evan Dorkin on things he's learning about his career as he turns in Eltingville work for what absolutely seems like the last time. He is one of the best talkers about the experience of being a cartoonist.
* on Blade and his powers. I do think that's a character they've not developed in a rational, long-game way. There's no reason why that character shouldn't work in comics better than it does.
* finally, Deb Aoki writes about how not to reach press people through social media. I don't mind people being blunt with links -- hey, the less time wasted on dog-and-pony-show stuff the better -- but I do get annoyed at the presumption my function in life is to help someone meet their PR goals.
Comic-Con Tips Guide: 164 Ways To Maybe Sort-Of Possibly Improve Your San Diego Con Experience
*****
Comic-Con International -- also known as CCI, Comic-Con, San Diego Comic-Con and even by the shorthand "San Diego" -- is the largest gathering of comics industry professionals and fans in North America. It is also a show of great importance to hundreds of pros in and fans of related publishing, merchandising and film businesses.
Comic-Con International features on its main floor a massive marketplace of vendors, creators and direct suppliers. You can buy old comics, new comics, original art, movies, t-shirts, toys, and licensed items from every walk of geek life at Comic-Con.
The upstairs rooms offer aggressive programming tracks in comics, film, television and a cornucopia of related activities.
There are opportunities all over the show to see and meet creators from any number of entertainment fields: actors, cartoonists, academics, voice-over talent, models and writers.
There are chances in the convention center and all over San Diego on Comic-Con weekend to meet like-minded fans, to celebrate your favorite oddball things, and to network on a massive scale.
It's Geek Vegas, Nerd Prom, Nerding Man, Fan Cannes, Fandom Branson, the Grand Ol' Cosplay Opry and Four-Color Ground Zero. It will be, for that weekend, What We Tweet About.
It's also an extraordinarily complex event.
That's where this guide comes in.
I'm a 20-year veteran of attending the show as a professional and covering it as press. What follows is a list of observations, tips and insights from a comics-culture point of view that may help prepare you for your San Diego con-going experience.
Everyone's San Diego is different, but there are a few commonalities and shared experiences that we at CR hope makes talking about some of them worthwhile.
In 2015, the show is scheduled for July 9-12, with a preview night on July 8. This is slightly earlier in the schedule than its traditional mid-July slot, although Comic-Con has certainly done all of the July weekends and some of the August over the years. The only thing I can imagine this changing is plans for some folks to make a trip to the region, say several days in LA first, as the July 4 weekend is a difficult one on which to travel and set up meetings.
No matter when you come out, I hope to see you there!
*****
Tip #0: Figure Out What's Different From Last Year
I'm not sure that I can pinpoint a lot of what was specifically different last year than previous years. Comic-Con continues to trend in certain ways. The overall swelling of the convention at its civic, off-site borders continues. It is nearly as hard to pass that last 200 yards to the front door of the convention center as it is to walk ten blocks before you get there. I crossed from the Omni to the Hilton Gaslamp at one point and it took me 21 minutes, just because of the crowds.
I think this is bad news for CCI because they're not equipped to handle running a show at the convention and monitoring all sorts of inside/outside activities spread out over a 20 block radius. Nor should they be. Still, most of what happened out there in 2014 was processed as if it were Comic-Con in charge, so I'm not sure they can avoid whatever blame might come to them if one of the incidents outside the show ends in a tragedy, whether it's an "event" like a zombie walk or just drunk people acting out.
Even with all the surrounding noise and all the stuff in the spotlight about which I care nothing, CCI continues to be one of the best comics shows I attend every year. There were a significant number of really talented mid-level indie/alt creators on hand, from Eleanor Davis to Jim Rugg to Lucy Knisley to David Lasky. I spent the entire day all three days in panels except for a meeting here and there during convention hours. I barely noticed the Hollywood aspect, although I was told it was fairly ordinary this year. Not much to be done about that, either, as fans make their decisions to come far before a studio has to figure out what they'll do there.
I met a number of younger people working in the industry that were planning on working elsewhere, a continuing problem for an inudstry that does not keep all of its most promising twentysomethings.
CR recused itself from the Eisners in 2014, so my brother Whit (CR's photographer) and I sat in back and enjoyed the show. It was nice to see Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez win Eisners after all of these years. People were generally in a good mood that night, it seemed. I remember that particular gathering of people after the show feeling small, the first time that had ever flashed through my head.
It's become a really good business show, with a lot of pampering and dinners and small events of four to eight people -- not the blowout parties of two decades ago. And that's fine, there's a space for that. It's also pretty clear that the convention focuses the publishers mid-year: there's a lot of stuff announced and a general sense of possibility that San Diego serves very well. I think it can settle into this model for years to come.
*****
Tip #1: Pay Attention To Personal Safety
In 2012, a woman with the intention of attending Comic-Con died after running into traffic and being struck by a car during the time she spent in a line that formed in advance of the show. Her name was Gisela Gagliardi. She was a fan, a lot like you and me that way. She didn't think she was going to die when she got out of bed that morning.
Please, please be careful.
Don't do anything because you're at a show and in a different headspace you wouldn't do and wouldn't invite your family to do with you back home.
Remember that San Diego is a city. San Diego isn't some strange city from a fantasy book. It's a real-life city with all that entails: crime, commutes, carelessness. Please remember this.
It's okay to complain about the police officers and what they have you do as far as crossing streets and waiting for trains, but do it anyway; they have your best interests in mind.
The security inside the convention center has a job to do and your day will go just fine making their days go a little easier by in nearly every case doing what they ask.
You look after you.
None of what follows is important at all if you don't come out of it on the other side as healthy as happy as the day you set foot in San Diego.
Tip #2: If You Don't Have A Badge, A Way To Get There And Place To Stay, Maybe Stay Home
The convention is sold out. The demand to attend Comic-Con in its current form outstrips the number of tickets available for the show, by a wide, wide margin. My guess is that if demand were unfettered by any structural concern more than a quarter of a million people could attend San Diego Con. Maybe 300K. Maybe 400, who know?
That rise in demand came with such sudden force as to discombobulate -- if not snuff outright -- traditional avenues for securing tickets. You have to pre-register as press now. Being able to claim professional status in a hobby-related field, even comics, is no longer a guarantee of entry. You certainly can't show up at the show and buy a ticket.
Abuse of the system by several parties and a general desire to allow for as many attendee badges as possible means you can't easily pick up an extra badge or two through an exhibitor pal. Fakes like this used to be commonplace; now they're useless. That's right: even "Bruce Wayne," "Ned Stark" and "Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet" have difficulty getting badges now.
It is possible if you're a big attraction all by yourself that an exhibitor or the convention may be willing to help you secure a badge. I've never heard of an A-list movie star sitting at the Omni Bar, unable to walk across the street, or a significant creator at Image Comics lurking around the parking lot exhibits hoping for her friends to get done inside so she can join them for dinner.
I wouldn't count on it, though.
As far as a place to stay, this late in the game I would suggest commuting in from Oceanside, Escondido or parts further north. Even LA. This is perfectly feasible, with some slight hassles. I've done the Escondido commute before.
If you don't have an airline ticket or an Amtrak ticket or a bus ticket yet, get it now. Past about June 15, I'd suggest giving up on finding a ticket and driving in. It never hurts to check.
*****
Tip #3: If You're Going Late, Favor Reserved Over Unreserved Options And Off Hours Over Main Hours
I'd suggest this generally, but I'd super-suggest it for anyone putting together travel plans now: spend the extra $20 for reserved seating as opposed to an option that might get you crowded out if a line is too long. This may be only trains, but it makes a huge difference for that form of travel. You can also look at some timing options that might strand you a bit, like taking a plane that arrives so early you end up storing your luggage and having to go back to check into your hotel as opposed to one that comes in the middle of the day. I've had a lot of success mixing up travel plans, too.
*****
Tip #4: Going? Not Going? Be Happy!
So the way things are set up right now, a lot of people are going to be left out of the Comic-Con experience. Those are the cards that Comic-Con has to play. The show has decided to stay in San Diego for the immediate future, and capacity in San Diego was reached several years ago now.
It's totally okay not to go.
There was a time when Comic-Con was an outright must-go for a certain kind of fan and pro and press person in comics. If you wanted to get everything you could out of comics, if you wanted to enter into the industry, if you wanted to be noticed, if you wanted to stay connected to what was going on, if you wanted to start datung a small-press company intern and maybe have access to their free comics, Comic-Con was the primary facilitator of these things.
That's no longer as true. As true.
If you go to Comic-Con these days, you can go because you want to, not because you feel you have to. It's the best one-stop shopping for a lot of what cons offer, but there are a whole lot of folks eschewing grocery stores altogether for a string of local grocers and farmers marets.
There are so many opportunities for daily connectivity and interaction out there that actually flying in and pressing the flesh and sharing a breakfast buffet -- while all still incredibly useful -- no longer seem like necessary things. At least not to the same degree.
Conversely, it's also totally okay to go. It's fine to look forward to San Diego, to build your professional year around it, to have social/personal expectations and hopes.
Don't fall into the Comic-Con trap. Because it may be more difficult to attend Comic-Con than it is to go to some other conventions, this puts pressure on the Comic-Con weekend to give back on a scale that would obliterate the fussier parts.
Remember that the hassle of going to Comic-Con is mostly an accident of our recent cultural history -- All those spectacle movies! All those fantasy franchise books! Marvel's post-bankruptcy comeback! All those graphic novels! The toy explosion! The rise of manga and anime! Kids read comics now! Older people continue buying toys! More women than ever are openly interested in geek culture! -- rather than something the convention itself enjoys or endorses or requires or was ever shooting for.
I honestly don't have any more fun going now than I did in '96 or '01, back when it was so much easier to attend the con that the worst-case scenario was registering on-site and staying in a $65 hotel ten blocks away. It wasn't that long ago!
But I also can't stress this enough. I still have fun. I find Comic-Con extremely pleasurable as a comics fan to attend, and it's wonderfully useful to me as a press person covering the comics industry. These last few years I got to meet Gilbert Shelton, see Kate Beaton slaughter a devoted crowd at her spotlight panel, chat with Alison Bechdel, interview my friends Dave Lasky and Jeff Smith at their spotlight panels, learn which young industry people know how to order wine (none of them), see Dave McKean talk over beautiful images of his work, see Eric Stephenson and comiXology blossom into major industry players, watch as significant publishing figures made impromptu, heartfelt tributes to the late Kim Thompson, see the look of horror and bemusement on Anthony Bourdain as he loped around the Marriott lobby... I've had nearly 100 meetings with friends, peers and key industry figures since 2008.
There will come a time when I won't attend CCI. I can feel it coming. I may be a part-timer now, as I adjust to my move to Ohio and the costs involved. I did Thursday AM to Saturday PM last year, and will again this year. There's a big chance that one day in the next few years I'll become a Friday morning to Saturday night attendee for a time, getting a taste of the show and hitting my meetings hard. Then Comic-Con will become something I used to do.
I never got to attend Comic-Con in the 1970s or 1980s. I'll never again attend the late 1990s Comic-Con of my (relative) youth. Those days are gone. There are still joys to be had. You need only engage the show as it is, not as you wish it to be. Someone will have their first show this year. Someone will have their best. Someone will say goodbye. It's all good.
*****
Tip #5: You Still Might Be Able To Score A Bed, A Sofa, A Stretch Of Floor; You Also Might Find A Seat In Someone Else's Car
If you don't want to commute but still feel lie you must attend, reach out to personal and professional peers immediately and let them know what you need. You'd be surprised how many people have an extra bed come open as people make last-minute cancellations. Similarly, you might be able to find a ride coming into San Diego or leaving the city, particularly if you're willing to buy more than your fair share of that particular trip.
Remember if you get anything from anyone, even if it's just a section of floor or a drawer in Ted Adams' suite at the Omni, treat that gift like a limousine ride to a suite at the Bayfront. It's only polite.
*****
Tip #6: Don't Count On Being Able To Stuff Multiple People Into A Room, Whether It's Your Room Or You're One Of The People
The Westgate and Westin Gaslamp have particularly notorious reputations in terms of figuring out who is staying at their hotels and making them all pay whatever might be applicable for that overnight visit.
Most hotels since about 2000 deny roll-aways to anything with two beds. I have been asked about extra room keys I pick up for professional reasons. Be safely circumspect; don't flaunt your Night At The Opera status.
*****
Tip #7: Plan For The Distance Between The Place You're Staying And The Convention Center
Once you're done figuring out where you're going to stay, if there was still work to do there, adjust yourself mentally as to what's on the way.
I won't lie to you any longer that there isn't a significant jump in class from every other staying option to staying in one of the six to eight hotels within a stone's throw of the San Diego Convention Center. Except for those with a sentimental attachment, the Marriott, the Hyatt, the Hilton Bayfront, the Omni, the Hard Rock, the Hilton Gaslamp -- these are just better hotels now, particularly if you're older. Why? You don't have to fight as many crowds, and you can get back to your room without a lot of hassle. All those crowds up close to the convention and right across are a gauntlet everyone runs, but to run it and be right at your room is a lot different than running it and having seven blocks left to walk. You may get anywhere from an hour to nine hours of time back depending on where you're able to stay.
All of those hotels near the convention center are pretty good ones, too, so it's not like you're skimping on the amenities. Plus they tend to be social hubs, so you're close to a network of bars that can serve as the last couple of hours of every evening. Two years ago I got to stay at the Hilton Gaslamp and ran into people at my own hotel I was happy to see and had two of my four nightcaps there. That was really freaking nice, and not an experience I've had with the hotels further away, at least not for 15 years or more when the comics industry was far more scattered and more tribal within expressions.
All that said -- all of it! -- staying further away won't ruin your weekend. I've been 20 years, stayed everywhere, and have no memory of distance as a particularly damaging element other than the lost time invested. When I'm there and staying further away, I adjust to the distance as a calming factor, a short walk to get my mind off the craziness of the convention floor. If I'm further away than a walk or a shuttle bus, I treat the convention as my oasis during the madness, and particularly try to enjoy the relative calm of morning spent where no one is dressed up as Black Lightning.
No matter where you're staying: count on more time to get back and forth. Go a little early in the morning, particularly if you're carrying items of professional import. You can always stop for a coffee in the lobby of someplace close. Build in a trip home early in the evening or before dinner before you head out for any socializing. If you're an uncomfortable distance away, reach out to friends and peers as to where they're staying, and if someone's close, they might take your portfolio and bag of comic books in their room in exchange for that first drink out. If after projecting on the day ahead you think there may be a chance you can't get back to your room before your social obligations shift, maybe take along a second shirt.
Any hotel can work if you're willing to work it. If you make the attempt to enjoy where you're staying as opposed to fuming about where you're not, you'll likely have a pretty good weekend.
*****
Tip #8. Network
I've already mentioned talking to your friends and any professional colleagues that may be going. This is your Comic-Con network.
Reach out in some modest way to folks you know that might be there and let them know you're going and with what general intention in mind (hanging out, finding a job, getting your work seen, selling a screenplay, drinking a beer on the back porch of a hotel bar with your favorite Batman writer, learning about voice acting, seeing a panel stuffed with pale vampire boys, etc.). Once you get closer to the show, reestablish contact with your network to ask after things like social events or to see if they can help you with any of your more specific goals for the weekend. Offer your help in return.
Not everyone will be helpful. Maybe no one will. As I mention above, Comic-Con doesn't look as large in terms of the entire year in publishing -- it could be that worrying after yoru experience this way might be seen as over the top or a little precious. Still, the number of people I've had tell me weeks after the show that there was a disappointing aspect to their Comic-Con weekend because of Reason X when I would have been able to easily provide them with Reason X had I only known is... well, it's about a dozen people. That doesn't sound like many, but that's 12 whole weekends I could have made better if the people involved had sent me a two-line e-mail. So reach out. Don't be a bother, but talk to your pals. Be to the point and unfailingly polite, but do it.
*****
Tip #9. Start Your Bookmarks
The other great, recurrent skill in the con-goer's toolbox is research. Research in this day and age means bookmarking sites of use and then making use of them. My suggestion is at some point between now and the show start a folder and put everything related to the con into it, including the following web sites.
A. This Guide -- if for no other reason than I'm going to spend time between now and Comic-Con obsessively slipping in more jokes.
B. Convention Web Site -- the source for tons of official information
C. Your Hotel's Web Site -- familiarize yourself with your surroundings, join the points club
D. Tripadvisor.com -- preview your hotel experience.
E. SDcommute.com -- commuting options.
F. VirtualGuideBooks.com -- see public areas before you visit them.
G. News From ME -- Mark Evanier has attended every single Comic-Con, and has logged about 63,000 hours of panel moderation time. He writes about his panels and the con itself with increasing frequency as the show dates approach.
H. The Beat -- Heidi MacDonald's purview is comics culture, and there's no single entity of greater importance within comics' culture than Comic-Con except perhaps the Internet.
I. Yp.Yahoo.com -- nearby business scouting.
J. SignOnSanDiego.com -- a halfway decent baseline review place, particularly for restaurants.
That may sound like a lot of sites, and you can tailor the folder for your specific intentions, but I still think it's a good idea in general to put together a little folder of bookmarks.
*****
Tip #10: Don't Stress Too Much About Overspending On The Ground
So if you've planned this big trip but now money is a little tight, maybe don't cancel. You don't have to spend a lot of money to go to Comic-Con.
In addition to having to curtail your retail consumption significantly or entirely, consider a) walking everywhere as a general rule, b) eating in rather than eating out, c) living like a cartoonist.
When I say "living like a cartoonist," I mean embrace your inner cheapskate as a temporary way of life -- make a game of being as cheap as possible at all times. Mooch. Keep an ear open as to whether a freebie you received might be worth more than another option (I've known dozens of people that sold their over-sized convention bag when it became clear that they had the most desirable one -- usually Supernatural -- measured in terms of number of bags to number of wild-eyed fans). There are people with per diem accounts that they can spend on you in "meetings" and that get paid back for cabs. Public transport goes just about anywhere a car might, just not as quickly or directly (I've taken it to the airport). Unleash your inner J. Wellington Wimpy. I have been to Comic-Con weekends where I've spent no money and had a great time. Twice only, but still. I've also spent less than $50 up to a half-dozen times. It may go against the spirit of the place -- so many exhibitors are counting on you! so many local businesss want to love SDCC more than they hate it! -- but it can be done.
*****
Tip #11: Finish Working On Stuff For the Show On July 1
If you're preparing anything at all for the show -- resumes, business cards, art to sell, opening lines, books to sell, art to show, scripts to pass around, your camera, a freelance assignment you have to physically hand to an editor who threatened to kill you and your pets -- you should finish it by July 1. You don't want to go through Comic-Con having stayed up for 37 hours beforehand stapling 16,000 copies of your mini-comics biography of Frank Cho. Don't show up wrecked.
Let me be firm about one specific thing: forget entirely getting something done "when you get there." Whatever you're thinking of leaving of doing until you get to the hotel room? You will not get that thing done. It's not convenient, you'll find 10,000 excuses to skip it, and you'll end up feeling dumb as a rock having to carry the raw materials back home with you on the plane. Packing materials you never touched back into the bag you brought with you is the DIY Walk of Shame.
*****
Tip #12: Maybe Hand-Carry Everything You Can
There are opportunities to send stuff to your hotel -- call your hotel -- and there are opportunities of course to ship to the convention center if you're an exhibitor. In fact, if you're an exhibitor, you are likely compelled to use the union folks on hand for the bulk of what you're bringing to the floor. Working out the best way to exhibit what you want to exhibit is a big part of the professional portion of attending a show like that in that specific rol
Go, Read: Agitation On Behalf Of Wally Wood Receiving A Top Of Show Credit On Daredevil TV Show I'm not sure what to do with an openly naked PR attempt to manufacture a mini-controversy like an open letter generated by J. David Spurlock of the Wally Wood Estate asking for a credit on the recent Daredevil TV show, covered here and some other places. I love Wally Wood, down to every last scrap of work he did. I love the idea of Wally Wood: drunk ghost-daddy of beautiful, broken mainstream comic books and their beautiful, broken creators. I think there should be Wally Wood ice cream. The work he did on reviving Daredevil from its initial conceptual work by Stan Lee and Bill Everett was indeed crucial to that character's survival and eventual transmutation into the forms seen on the show.
On the other hand, I'm super-dubious of efforts calling attention to an apparent controversy that seem instead to be there to generate one. The use of Mark Waid's general quote about Wally Wood as a specific endorsement of the call to credit is awful, flat-out. The idea of a pre-show credit is a very specific request for which very broad, general reasoning has been given, reasoning that may make you look like a corporation-loving chumpstick if you opt out. It's hard for me to figure out what's optimally just. I see Wood's contribution as pretty unique in the history of comics and in the history of Daredevil, but I bet others don't. I can imagine a lot of rational adults feeling Gene Colan and Roy Thomas are just as deserving as developers, and then it starts to look like you're about to head down a hole.
My hunch is that there's no perfect solution here, but that a rational conversation can be had about creator vs. developer credit, credit in front of a property or on the back-end, and then the entire sticky business of who might get paid.
* this column tends to be for material that is going to come out at some future date, but I totaly missed word that Rotland Press did a tabloid of articles about the Charlie Hebdo matter, proceeds benefiting the CBLDF.
* there's a lovely-sounding conference today in NYC concerned with French comics publishers putting more work into the hands of North American audiences. I know this has been a big concern of theirs, and that their ministry of culture has even spent some money in this direction. The model of course is the success Japan had turning its comics industry into an international export of note.
* pretty sure I recommended or will recommend this Evan Dorkin essay in a "random story update" at some point this week, but it's worth pointing out there's some information here about the next Beasts Of Burden one-short, or at least the potential for one.
* finally, Nate Powell talks about his forthcoming collection of early works, You Don't Say. Powell's work has been scattered about a bit, and it took him a while to find market traction that such a big seems like a very good idea. It should be interesting to see how well IDW does with the book.
Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* here's a thoughtful analysis of the failed Archie kickstarter. Personal note: I swear I wasn't being intentionally mean or hateful when I suggested that Archie maybe find another line of work. My belief was that they had the resources necessary to publish those comics, relative to the standard risk that a dozen or so comics publishers take every day. To claim that they didn't and to have reward levels that relied on the goodwill they've built, that seemed like an occasion for stronger than usual language.
* the Justice League Of America does better with big action than most comics in part because there's no real need to character-build with characters that are holding down like five comics each. I still don't feel anything for these versions of the characters, and I'm pretty easy to bring on board in a basic sense. I have a feeling these post-Convergence stories might be a big deal for setting a new baseline with their Superman character.
* the way Gary Tyrrell writes about his batting percentage with receiving promised kickstarter rewards and incentives here is a reminder that many people go into those exchanges expecting to win some and lose some.
* speaking of DC characters, I haven't understood Lex Luthor since his guest-spot in that one Swamp Thing invades Gotham City story.
* there's a nice, complimentary TCAF report here at Experiments In Manga. One of the things that TCAF has been able to do since about five years is present multiple tracks of enjoyment for readers that are very different than that enjoyed by other con attendees. It's really advance-class stuff, but you can go there being an old-time alt-head, a new webcomics person, a manga fan, or a kids-comics fan and have an entire weekend's worth of experiences. It's a big reason it's a model show.
* so apparently I've been on Twitter since 2009. This is me over there. I can't remember if I had a previous account before the one that stuck the way I've had them with other services. I don't think so. I wasn't an early adopter there at all. Twitter is weird in that it's become for many comics people a one-thread curated message board called "comics." It's certainly had a significant effect on how I approach doing my job, and I don't think to positive effect. I do appreciate its reach and I sure like making dumb jokes.
* this was sent to me by two family members and I'm not sure I would have seen it otherwise. I love any time a mainstream publication provides a lengthy explanation of a simple cartoon.
Weird Extra Bit Of Housekeeping: Black Jack, Eagle
Because I am the worst person at moving, apparently I still have duplicate copies of Black Jack and Eagle sitting in an otherwise empty bookshelf in Silver City, New Mexico.
I have Volumes 1-12 of Eagle; Volumes 1-12 and then 17 of Black Jack. Does someone want to buy them before they're landfill-bound? I'd love $35 for the Black Jack and $20 for the Eagle, or $50 for both. I'll pay postage anywhere in the continental US. I'll spend the money on site-related stuff!
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Update: The Black Jack books are gone. I still have the Eagle books. They'll go down to $15 on Monday and then they will be worm food!
Not Comics: Todd VanDerWerff On A Unifying Theory For This Century’s Big Superhero Films
The writer Todd VanDerWerff looks at modern superhero movies as a way for culture to replay 9/11 under safe or even advantageous terms. I assume this is a part of their appeal in general, just as the monster movies of the '50s and '60s had an element of nuclear bomb horror and the original Superman movie can be seen as a reaction to 1970s masculinity and disappointing authority figures. Those movies are such large enterprises that I wonder if they aren't more the other way around, and that the way we interpret violence now isn't just wrapped up in 9/11 imagery for better or for worse. I'm not sure that comics ever recovered from the effect of having its dramatic levels recalibrated after the towers fell.
Roz Chast Wins 2015 Reuben For Outstanding Cartoonist Of The Year
The NCS gave out their yearly awards last night during their big weekend (this time in Washington, D.C.). Roz Chast won the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year Award, otherwise known as The Reuben -- one of the great awards in world comics and one that's been held by every major editorial and strip cartoonist since its mid-20th Century inception. Roz Chast's win is a rare win for a female cartoonist (first in two decades; third ever), and I think it's now fair to argue that her memoir, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, is the second-most lauded comics work of the comics-for-adults era. Congratulations to her. The other finalists were almost certain future Reuben winners Stephan Pastis and Hilary Price.
The Division Awards went as follows, with winners in bold.
The awards program also gave out honorary-type awards , including this year Mort Drucker and Jeff Keane.
*****
I'm not sure how to analyze the division awards. The NCS has a problem in that they seemingly must bring in some energy and membership from sources outside the scaling-back world of newspaper cartooning. So Chast in a way is a move in that direction, and so are the fact that there are two comic-book categories and two on-line categories. At the same time, the accusations of conservative voting within the body still seem like they have some fuel. This comes out mostly in an impression that the membership votes for best-known people to its sensibilities rather than really decides on the merits of each category. There are also some favorites which outside voters find confusing, such as the idea that Michael Ramirez is on some sort of historical run right now. I'm not sure how a group goes about changing perceptions like that, fair or unfair.
Next year might see Pastis, perhaps Bill Griffith (who has a graphic novel coming out) and maybe even Ramirez vying for the top prize.
1. Chrome Fetus #7
2. Tintin And The Picaros
3. Hup #4
4. The Worst From MAD #12
5. Superman #423 (though like Superman, the title’s death was temporary)
*****
John Platt
1. Alias #28
2. Eddie Campbell's Bacchus #60
3. Wandering Star #21
4. Ms. Tree #50
5. Nextwave Agents of HATE #12
1. Get Lost #3
2. Yak Yak #2
3. Air Pirates Funnies #2
4. Art d'Ecco #4
5. Plastic Man (2006) #20
*****
Bryan Munn
1. Amazing Adult Fantasy #15 -- Steve Ditko and Stan Lee introduce Spider-Man in this washed-up "monster-of-the-month" series
2. Little Lulu #268 -- kind of a hard to find comic pre-internet with some quality John Stanley reprints
3. Captain Canuck #14 -- the first comic I ever subscribed to was cancelled just after the hero time-travelled to the "present" of 1981. Gorgeous George Freeman art!
4. Help #26 -- Steve Allen, Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Crumb, Terry Gilliam's "Buster Have You Ever Stomped a Negra?" and more!
5. Morons #1 -- can't keep track of this comic by Keith Jones. Is it really over?
CR Week In Review The top comics-related news stories from May 16 to May 22, 2015:
1. Twenty-eight year old Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani was in court Tuesday; the verdict and possible sentences of more jail time and/or flogging are being delay one to three weeks from that trial date. In dispute is a cartoon critical of woman's right issue legislation having to do with birth control. She's already spent time in Evin Prison for daring to make the cartoon and spent more time in jail for complaining about her treatment the first time she was in jail. Involved is one of those noxious laws that partly to fully exempts sitting politicians from criticism.
2. A massive number of Charlie Hebdo-related news items continue to pop up, as Luz announces he won't be working for the magazine anymore and French police become involved with two men stalking a current staffer.
3. Zunar's sedition trial has been postponed until July. My hunch is that for the most part this is only ever bad news for the accused, as I assume they'd like to see this thing adjudicated and over with -- or at least moving forward to the next stage of appeal.
Losers Of The Week
Now and forever, the Malaysian authorities hassling Zunar.
Quote Of The Week
"I could get ahold of Barack Obama easier. Let's put it that way. I try, I try, I try, and I don’t know. It's just impossible." -- Geof Darrow, on seeking out contact with Frank Miller.
*****
the comic image selected is from the brief but notable 1970s run of Seaboard/Atlas
Information here. That's a group whose communication needs are sort of ill-suited to the way industry media disseminates information, so you might consider it. I don't sign up for a lot of mailing lists but I will this one.
Your 2015 Dwayne McDuffie Award For Kids’ Comics Finalists
ICv2.com has a nice write-up from PR generated by the Dwayne McDuffie Award For Kids about their 2015 nominees list. The awards are named after the late comics-maker and skilled animation producer.
The ten finalists for the first annual “Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids Comics†are:
Judges for the nominating round were Edith Donnell (librarian), Dan Merrit (comic shop owner) and Brigid Alverson (journalist). The award will be given on June 20, in conjunction with the Kids Read Comics Festival in Ann Arbor on June 21-22.
Verdict Delayed For Iranian Cartoonist Atena Farghadani According to several wire articles including this one, a verdict in the Atena Farghadani case will be delayed one week or more after a packed and intense hearing on Tuesday. The cartoonist continues to be detained. She's already served two stretches of jail time for a 2014 cartoon depicting anti-women's rights officials as having animal heads. This included a stretch in the notorious Evin Prison and some additional time for complaining about her treatment during her first time of being imprisoned for a cartoon.
The judge in the case has already been the subject of accusations of unfair treatment by the cartoonist. Several cartoonists in several countries have run afoul of laws that provide special dispensation to sitting politicians in terms of how they're depicted, a whole conception of the law that strikes me as wholly problematic in these times just about anywhere they're applied. Let me add my voice to the chorus of those hoping for the best outcome possible.
By Request Extra: Jason Lutes’ Lates RPG Kickstarter Nears End Here. I knew that Lutes was a gamer, and that this included tabletop gaming, but I didn't know he was producing rules sets.
A Few More Significant Charlie Hebdo-Related Updates
* the thought that someone is following and taking photos of Riss seems fairly terrifying to me, although I realize there may be political objections to some of the characterization in the article. But seriously: it would be a little bit scary if it were like me and my brother following him around; this is worrisome. I've read a couple of complaints about police fecklessness contributing to the Charlie Hebdo murder, so careful monitoring seems a natural.
* after announcing that he would no longer draw Muhammed, Luz has now announced he'll quit Charlie Hebdo. Negotiating the spirits of his dead friends has been too much for him to bear, and I think I would find myself in a similar headspace were half of Fantagraphics murdered, say.
* not comics: this Neil Labute play withdrawn from a fundraising event sounds much less horrible than its first description. The idea of what subjects we engage in art and how we publish/perform those works is a fascinating one, and there's almost no strong conensus in any direction right now.
* finally, here's a follow-up on the Charlie Hebdo donations situation, which stresses the amount that will go to the victims' families. There had been some question as to whether or not any should be returned to the magazine struturally, and what was due whom given the ownership profile of the publication. That article suggests that they expect circulation to eventually settle at around 100,000.
Go, Read: Jeff Kinney Builds Many Folks’ Dream Set-Up
It should be interesting over the next 15-20 years to see how those who do well in some form of cartoon- or comics-making spend that extra capital and whatever cultural oomph they may have. It looks like Jeff Kinney, the man behind the mega-successful hybrid book series The Wimpy Kid, is starting a small town bookstore and cafe. The last place I lived was a town where 80 percent of the downtown businesses were run by people who had cashed out elsewhere. (I know this to be true having once applied for a part-time position as a PR person for the Merchants Association.) Bookstores and classes and even comics shops are model that could benefit from that of investment, people spending their fortunes (even moderate ones) rather than hoping to make one.
I hope Kinney is as successful at this as he has been making those books.
Festivals Extra: CCA MFA In Comics Names Its Three Speakers For 2015 Comics In The City Series
The Comics In The City Guest Speaker Series, a run of three Friday events for July affiliated with San Francisco California College Of The Arts, has named its trio for 2015: Mike Mignola, Spike Trotman and Paul Madonna. That's a great line-up. There will be a fourth event series on the fourth Friday that moment featuring CCA graduates doing readings. It all sounds like fun.
Richard Comely Is Looking For Specific Captain Canuck Art Here. I hope someone can help him. I can't even imagine the stuff we're going to find missing over the next 15 years.
* not comics: I'm happy for cartoonists I like to get deals in other media they want and are interested in doing -- and hey, these look fun -- but my primary interest as a comics reporter is in keeping track of Gary Tyrrell's idea that comics are the new stand-up: a low-threshold performance art that will drive talented people to other, more profitable media for the next 20 years.
* bundled extra: happy to see Greg Stump's Disillusioned Illusions, which was essentially a handmade and distributed comic in its most recent iteration -- will get a bump up in public profile via an edition with FU Press. Stump is a deeply funny cartoonist, and I don't know anyone who does comics quite like he does: more Donald Barthelme than Donald Duck.
* look at this cool Jim Osborne comic. Osborne is one of the many artists in the underground tradition that has almost no penetration into our general knowledge of comics. I hope that the undergrounds have a more comprehensive legacy in 2050 than they have right this moment, but it's going to be tough.
The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
* Image Expo has announced for July 2, the week before Comic-Con International. They made some headlines last summer by having their summer event the Wednesday before the big show -- which got them more buzz than actual press, what with people having to file right before they start filing all of their Comic-Con article. They sure owned the news cycle early on, though, and I think moving it five days back will have a similar effect.
* David Letterman ended his lengthy run as a late-night talk show host and reluctant celebrity last night. That's a great broadcasting career and a significant one in American comedy for its gentle, curdled, insistent chiding nature against Reagan-era cultural banality using both very modern snark and even older, even dumber show business tools: a two-front war with more battles won than anyone might have predicted. 1985 was the worst year of my life. The two things that kept me sane were Letterman's NBC show and the Chicago Bears. I worked at a newspaper readjusting type on the sports pages. I would come home an hour after everything had to be released upstairs, a little bit after midnight. I slept on the couch in my Mom's living room, because I was afraid of being seen from an outside window and my bedroom was next to the garage, easily accessible. I would watch Letterman's show every night it was on until I fell asleep. I am very grateful to have had that TV show at that time in my life, as dumb as "having" a TV show sounds. I hope he has a happy retirement, as best as he's able. Comics has a culture of constantly proving one's love to the medium, many times through whatever of its representatives with which you had close contact at a key point in your life. I think some of it is a pose, and some of it is a general longing and ache that people hang onto because they like to keep a part of their mindset in that space. Some of it is very real and very personal. An object, a work of art, a recurring experience can save your life if it comes to you with the right thing at the right time, no matter what that thing might be. Sometimes it's just the distraction. Sometimes it's something more. It's always welcome. Thank you, Mr. Letterman.
* the writer Matt Fraction appears on Seth Meyers' late-night show this evening. I'm very happy for Matt to receive an opportunity like this, to build the kind of cultural cachet that he deserves and I hope will continue to go to comics-makers. I hope he has fun. I suppose there may be a television show announcement of some sort.
Another nice thing is that he's linked to the pages for each podcast, so you get to see the photos that Amy Beadle Roth does when she's in attendance, like the one above featuring Nina Bunjevac. Amy is a fine photographer.
Eurocomics USA Invasion: IDW To Publish Complete Sinner
One of the 100 great comics of the last 20th Century and one of the ten all-time best drawn, if IDW does bring us a complete edition of Jose Munoz and Carlos Sampayo's Sinner, that will be a line drawn across the page at or near the top on the "missing comics editions" list in this golden age of reprints. That is just a lovely comic, cynical and cool, the ur-modern crime comic.
This Isn’t A Library: Notable Releases Into Comics’ Direct Market
*****
Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.
I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.
*****
MAR151285 OPTIC NERVE #14 (MR) $6.95
It's weird that there's only 14 of these, because I feel like I've done about 14 of these "library" piece where I extol the virtues of the last man standing of the 1990s alt-comics regulars (there are likely others, and there are definitely a few indie-comics survivors. But yeah, this "appointment serial comics buying" if such a thing exists. Drawn and Quarterly's big year continues.
MAR151663 DREAM FOSSIL COMP STORIES SATOSHI KON GN $24.95
While the flattening of the comics market can be frustrating for those who would have rather have three middle-class cartoonists than 12 barely making enough to continue doing what they do in the margins of their lives, one beneficial result is you get a lot of work in comics that wouldn't even been on the table in another art form, and some of it can even piece together a significant audience. I admired the films of Satoshi Kon in the general sense the way most people I know did, particularly Paprika, and I'd love to see his shorter comics works just to look at recurring techniques and continuities of tone.
JAN150100 BPRD PLAGUE OF FROGS TP VOL 04 $24.99
Stand-alone Mignola-verse trade. I buy these in comics form -- and older comics, too, so I'm pretty far behind -- but the other three people I know that are obsessive collectors of this material have switched over to the frequent trades. Don't have much to say beyond that -- I think this material may have already been done, although maybe not exactly in this format. It's gotta be three, four years old at least.
MAR150665 A-FORCE #1 SWA $3.99 MAR150081 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #131 $3.50 MAR150037 GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #5 $3.99 MAR150019 MIND MGMT #33 $3.99 MAR150032 RESIDENT ALIEN SAM HAIN MYSTERY #1 $3.99 MAR150038 USAGI YOJIMBO #145 $3.50 MAR150591 SATELLITE SAM #14 (MR) $3.50 MAR150512 TREES #9 (MR) $2.99
Comics! The A-Force is the all-female Avengers comics. Jill Lepore lit into it and writer G. Willow Wilson responded in one of those Internet battles that drive the world right now. I find the request for a specific contextual reading interesting giving everything going on in comics the last several months. Sergio Aragones and Matt Kindt are always worth checking out. The "Resident Alien" book is actually the second in the latest series because of how they're numbering them. I like the lead and the setting in those comics. Stan Sakai: another automatic buy; it's good to see him back with the regular run of the title. I'm about three issues behind on Satellite Sam, but I think that a fairly enjoyable series, too. Trees is a continuation of the Warren Ellis/Jason Howard science fiction story, pieces of which I thought a lot of fun during the title's initial burst of issues.
MAR151753 ART OF MAD MAX FURY ROAD HC $39.95 MAR150293 MAD MAX FURY ROAD NUX & IMMORTAL JOE #1 (MR) $4.99
I have almost no use for tie-in comics and there hasn't been a movie in a long while where I was interested in the art involved or art direction to want to purchase a giant book. That said, what little I've seen of the Mad Max film currently pleasing hardcore fans and fellow creatives across the world looks gorgeous, and who doesn't love Brendan McCarthy? The side project comic does not feature Mr. McCarthy, and has to stand more or less on it own. I'm suspicious of books that want to "fill in the blanks" on characters, and this sounds like it may be one of those. I'll pay attention to reviews as they start to accumulate. It seems like all of the properties that have riffed off of the Max movies have done comics, but there's been very little of the original in that form. I'll be interested to see how all that movement is portrayed.
MAR151725 OUT OF LINE ART JULES FEIFFER HC $40.00 DEC141691 WILL EISNER SPIRITED LIFE HC DLX ED $39.95
Two treatments of two great masters, one no longer with us. An art book featuring Jules Feiffer is welcome, although I'd like to see it in my hands before making a purchase. I live near a comic book store now, so that's a possibility. Wanting to see it has nothing to do with the artist; Feiffer's a wonderful image-maker, and his drawings are always lively -- or intentionally lacking same. Art books are difficult, though, so that last couple of percentage of skeptic in me wants to check it out. The Eisner I'm familiar with from reading the original Bob Andelman biography, to which material is added. It's on my reading table. I'm not a fan of this line-wide approach to its books that TwoMorrows has in terms of art direction; this looks like a book in a series instead of special edition of anything.
JAN150661 VELVET TP VOL 02 THE SECRET LIVES OF DEAD MEN (MR) $14.99
I find these comics entertaining, and the art is classic mainstream-school sumptuous. It's a good summer comic, and will eventually make an older actress very happy, I imagine.
*****
The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.
To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.
The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.
If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.
* I don't know if this article is an accurate description of what Marvel plans after its imminent-if-not-already-started Secret Wars event, but just by existing it's an example of how the genre press will treat encountering that news. It's not... positive. Nothing that I've heard about what they're up to in a line-wide sense is appealing to me, but I'm not the target audience. I still think it's something of a risk for the traditional strong-seller, though. People turn on things now.
* where the "Foggy" in "Foggy Nelson" comes from. I have to admit, I didn't know that one. If asked I would have said, "Short for Fogworth" and run out of the room.
* I don't remember any articles in 2008 about the potential difficulties in caricaturing a female POTUS, but I expect a bunch of them this time around. Here's WaPo.
* finally, Jeph Jacques vs. Wal-Mart. The winner is... I can't tell, but probably not the American Worker.
All Thoughts With Atena Farghadani, On Trial Today In Iran For Her Critical Cartoon
Global Voices Online has a succinct write-up here about the trial of Atena Farghadani, beginning today. Farghadani did the cartoon above about Iranian politician voting on restrictions to contraception and voluntary sterilization. She was arrested and held in the infamous Evin Prison, released, and then re-jailed when she complained about her treatment there. A subsequent hunger strike caused severe consequence still worrying family and supporters.
Two of the three charges will be familiar to a lot of you reading this site -- they're basically "insulting politicians" charges, this seemingly archaic mechanism that still exists in a lot of countries that affords special status to sitting government officials, compounded by a legal system happy to facilitate charges against their critics. This has to have a brutal effect on any sort of self-criticism necessary for a functioning political body in the widest sense. Such laws seem evil and unnecessary.
Amnesty International has a call to action on behalf of the 28-year-old here.
I like that cartoon. I can't fathom that it has been used to inflict harm and misfortune upon its cartoonist.
Festivals Extra: Autoptic Makes Its Formal 2015 Announcement
I think the best way to access this information is just go to their PDF, rather than have me spit it back at you. Some of it's been published in bits and pieces, too; this is the formal all-in-one-place announcement. I always appreciate that formality.
Autoptic is the Minneapolis show whose first effort two years back received a lot of good notices. This year's version is schedule for two days, August 8-9. Minneapolis is an important, potent comics scene, the space is great, and they have an interesting approach to satellite events such as the "laboratory/residency" Pierre Feuille Ciseaux (PFC), which takes place at MCAD the week of the show.
They're also announcing an Anders Nilsen-curated exhibition featuring guests of the festival. I hope to attend.
Details Released On Seth Kushner’s Arrangements
I received the following note from close friend Dean Haspiel with information about memorial services for the late Seth Kushner, and I'm happy to pass them along for those of you who would like to pay your respects in this fashion.
Funeral services for Seth Kushner​:
May 20th, 2015
Nieberg Midwood Memorial Chapel
1625 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230
11 AM -- Gathering at funeral home for visiting
12 PM -- Service starts
Travel to New Montefiore Cemetery after service
1180 Wellwood Ave West Babylon, NY 11704
Shiva will be held at Terra’s house
* Beginning Wednesday, May 20th after cemetery service (until 7 PM)
* 10 AM-7 PM on Thursday, May 21st
* 10 AM-5 PM on Friday, May 22nd
Continued visiting at Linda’s house
* Saturday, May 23rd (6 PM-10 PM)
* Sunday, May 24th to Monday, May 25th (6 PM-9 PM)
* Ends Tuesday, May 26th (up until 1 PM)
Several sources including this site noted yesterday that the funding site set up for Kushner and family during his lengthy health crisis is still accepting donations.
* go here to see a best-of honor given Drawn and Quarterly's bookstore. It's been really interesting over the last half-decade and a bit more to see how well some of these publishers have integrated a bookstore into what they do. In many cases, their seeing the "soft power" advantages of having a physical location really impressed me.
* here's a short piece on some of the basic changes made in Marvel's comics to reflect things that work -- or need to work -- on film. You do want your comics to at least resemble the movies in a way that allows fans to follow along, although it seems to me the Inhumans/X-Men we'll-deny-it swap-out has been poorly executed on a lot of levels.
By Request Extra: Please Consider Supporting The Kushner Family With A Small Donation Via Their Page
When Seth Kushner was diagnosed with leukemia, a GoFundMe page was set up to support him and his family with outside donations. The family could still use the support in the wake of Kushner's passing. Please consider giving.
I'm not familiar with this comic or this new publishers, but I like the looks of it enough I'll send you to look at it, if you're willing. I'm always a little bit curious about publishers that employ crowd-funder, this looks like either a self-publishing effort or the self-publishing portion of a larger effort. It also looks fairly well-rewarded, although that will need a second look as well. I'm very confused by what to do with crowd-funders in that I prefer the old way of doing thing. What I don't know if that's just a preference or a preference with teeth when dissecting these very project. I'm going to guess it varies a great deal.
Festvias Extra: Short Run Offers Self-Publishing Grant
I think the information through the link is pretty self-explanatory. Short Run, Seattle's alt-/art comics show which takes place in the Fall each year (this year's it's on Halloween) is offering up a package including cash for a first-time exhibitor. I think this is a good thing, and I bet more and more of the intensely regional shows -- of which this is one -- will begin to offer them as a way to keep interest high within increasingly competitive scenes.
* not comics: Warren Ellis on the Mad Max films. Ellis always ends his essay on a really good line. I imagine him typing a sentence like that, pushing back from the table while lifting his hands, and then a bottle of booze and an appropriate glass fly into them: "Wap!" "Wap!"
* I am not sure what the promise being kept in this post concerns, but I'm glad the promise was kept. That should give you some of you at least one or two names with which to go exploring.
* The Beguiling's original art sales service has added Kate Beaton as a client. I bet those are really cool-looking as original art; we already know about their high quality as comics. They do some mail-order, but they also have that big store and they also sell work at Comic-Con, if seeing leads to believing.
* there was for a while a significant compulsion for artists to do Mad Men art. Someone told me at the time that they thought it was because the cast looked like superheroes in civilian clothing -- they were that handsome and put together so well. I'm grateful when a popular television show ends because I always think of all those people have a work/life highlight working on it, now going their separate ways and in many cases properly rewarded for the time put in.
Assembled Extra: Dave Sim’s Cerebus Guide To Self-Publishing Now A $9 Download
My hunch without re-reading is that this may serve better as a historical document than a how-to and as a world of insight into the unique publishing achievement that was the 300-issue Cerebus best of all.
If I Were In New York City, Or Near New York City, I Would Be Taking A Comics Class From Julia Wertz .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
FFF Results Post #418—Riverdale Memories
On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Your Five Favorite Archie-Universe Characters Not The Core Five." This is how they responded.
*****
Dave Knott
* Dilton Doiley
* Big Ethel Muggs
* Alexandra Cabot
* Salem Saberhagen
* Jinx Malloy
1. Cricket O'Dell
2. Jellybean Jones
3. Leroy Lodge (demoted from Veronica's kid brother to first cousin, presumably after the DNA tests came in)
4. Alice Cooper (no, not >him<; Betty's mother)
5. Dr. Doom (not >him< either)
*****
D. Alexander Cox
1. Prof Flutesnoot
2. Miss Beazly
3. Mr Svensen
4. Jellybean Jones
5. Jinx Malloy
CR Week In Review The top comics-related news stories from May 9 to May 15, 2015:
1. Archie puts together and then pulls a kickstarter in support of three new comic books.
2. The great Malaysian cartoonist Zunar sees a ban lifted that puts a ruling about two of his 2010 books, a ruling that went in his favor, back on the table. This is in addition to the more recent trouble he's had, including a charge of sedition.
3. TCAF concludes another successful year, this time with a big Canadian focus given Drawn and Quarterly's 25th anniversary and the naming of a new publisher, Peggy Burns.
Quote Of The Week
"We decided to dive into crowdfunding as an energetic, interactive and different method to raise money to help expedite the launch of these titles. The chance to engage with our fans directly was really appealing to us, and we're extremely grateful and honored by the support and pledges we've received." -- Jon Goldwater
*****
the comic image selected is from the brief but notable 1970s run of Seaboard/Atlas
Archie Cancels Their New Riverdale Kickstarter At 3:15 PM Friday At least that's the best I can figure out. At less than 1/10th of the required amount in so far, conventional wisdom would suggest a really tough road ahead for the crowd-funder in terms of meeting that official goal. Designed to facilitate bringing three comics starring Jughead, Kevin Keller and Betty & Veronica to the market more quickly, the kickstarter was confusing to some for a number of reasons. Some in the wider comics community objected to well-establish companies using crowd-funding in that way. Some were not sure exactly what they were paying for. Others objected to the lack of physical reward until a significant payment took place.
While this does reintroduce the question if companies at Archie's size are suited to crowd-funders and the standards brought to such projects generally, I would imagine that Archie might be able to do what they want with this mechanism if they approach the execution of it much, much differently. We'll see.
Archie released the following statement from Jon Goldwater, which was provided to me after I asked Alex Segura.
We will be ending the Archie Kickstarter today.
We launched the "New Riverdale" Kickstarter as a unique and innovative way to celebrate the company's upcoming 75th anniversary and to bring attention to some new titles that we are extremely excited about -- "Jughead" by Chip Zdarsky, "Betty and Veronica" by Adam Hughes and "Life with Kevin" by Dan Parent and J. Bone. We decided to dive into crowdfunding as an energetic, interactive and different method to raise money to help expedite the launch of these titles. The chance to engage with our fans directly was really appealing to us, and we're extremely grateful and honored by the support and pledges we've received.
While the response to these new titles has been amazing, the reaction to an established brand like Archie crowdfunding has not been. Though we saw this as an innovative, progressive and "outside-the-box" way to fund the accelerated schedule we wanted to produce these books, it became another conversation, leading us further away from the purpose of this whole campaign: to get these amazing books in the hands of fans faster than we could on our own. While we fully expected our goal to be funded, it was no longer about the books and how amazing they will be. We don't want that. This is why we're shutting the Kickstarter down today.
We don't regret trying something new. It's what Archie's been about for the last six years. We will continue to be a fearless, risk-taking and vibrant brand that will do its best to embrace new platforms, technology and ways to interact with fans. As a company, we have always prided ourselves on pushing boundaries and challenging expectations and perceptions.
The wonderful New Riverdale titles we wanted to launch will still come out -- albeit not as quickly as we would have hoped had we attained the funding via Kickstarter. We believe in these books and know they'll find an audience in comic shops, fueled by great stories and amazing creators.
We'd like to thank the great team at Kickstarter for their guidance and feedback and the entire staff at Archie Comics for their endless hours of hard work and dedication to this very special initiative.
And, most importantly, to our fans that pledged money to this Kickstarter -- we thank you. Your dedication, love of Archie and his friends and endless positivity are examples to all. We will be in contact shortly via Kickstarter to get a special thank-you gift in your hands as soon as possible. Your support means the world to us.
I'm sure there will be more to say on Monday when this settles in a bit.
“Once Every Few Decades”—Edie Fake Part Of Entire 7-Member USC Class Dropping Out Of MFA Program
I never get e-mail from my regular academic friends and rarely from my comics academics, so I paid attention when I received four e-mails today on the subject of the entire USC MFA first year class dropping out of school. One of the artists is Edie Fake, a potent comics-maker, so as much as that makes this a comics story here you go. I thought all of that was fascinating, and while my friends have told me this kind of thing rarely if never happens, I wonder if it doesn't open up all of the academic institutions to this kind of move as these programs change, in many cases to maximize financial return to the institution. It's impressive to me that any group of students have that much ownership on their expectations for the education they're paying for that this is a result; I was part of a generation that mostly went though grad school with no idea what they wanted, from the program or the sheepskin.
* the tone of this article intrigues me. Rather than treating Disney's mishandling of its both-sex and girls merchandising by emphasizing old, dumb-assed and unrealistic gender expectations as a lost opportunity for a dumb, old company that is screwing up and throwing money down a hole, the tone in the piece is more that Disney is malevolently doing something by denying people their toys. I encounter very aggressive articles about culture war every day, so it's not like I think it's a bankrupt position, just surprising here. After encountering the tone I thought there would be some inner memorandum work or something more of a smoking gun and not just vague statements about ways of doing business and celebrity tweets. There wasn't. The thought of a company not making something as something that's being done to you is still a slightly foreign concept to me beyond extreme expressions of it, likely in part because I benefit from everything being made for me (less so as I'm older). All that said, they should just make some toys for these kids; that's gotta be frustrating for parents that help their kid buy in and want to extend/expand that experience. There's likely also a lesson here in consolidation of expression, how this kind of thing is even possible only when a company makes so much money that losing several tens of millions doesn't even register. It might also be worth noting that male kids can attach to female characters in a big way, too, like I did with Kitty Pryde when I was 10, 11, 12.
* I, on the other hand, never read what you wrote because other than writing this blog all I do is look at pictures of celebrities.
* finally, this looks like a good springboard from which to see a lot of nice art. I don't remember which one pinterest is or how it works, but I'm assuming it's somewhat user-friendly.
* I can't remember if I linked to this article from Ben Hatke about comics for kids, but it's worth repeating if I have. I also can't remember how this photo array of various Periscope Studios poeple ended up in my bookmarks, but it was fun to look at.
Zunar’s 2010 Books Can Now Have The Lift On Their Ban Questioned
If I'm reading the reports like this one correctly, the Malaysian cartoonist Zunar doesn't just get to negotiate the last six months of police and judicial pressure on his recent cartoons, including an outright charge of sedition related to supporting materials, the lift on the ban of two books in 2010 is now back on the table for reconsideration.
There was about a week when I thought last Fall's decision on Zunar's 2010 harassment might be a last statement on a period of idiotic harassment against the cartoonist: about as straight-forward and mainstream a satirist as it is possible to imagine. Since then, it's been round after round of new tussles. And now the old work is back on the table to be viewed once more in this light. I can only wish all support and courage to Zunar, who has endured so much for what seems a wholly unreasonable set of expectations by the government.
* I'm still appreciative that Jon Goldwater and Alex Segura were kind enough to work with me on yesterday's post about their Kickstarter. Plunging through the Internet that second link at 9:00 AM ET would indicate they're at about $25K. I'm not sure how crowd-funders work anymore, but at one time that would have been a low amount for a successful one early in its run. We'll see. They have a lot of goodwill built up and a fervent fan base. It is not one in which I am interested, although I think those comics could do reasonably well as a standard publishing project.
* Stephanie McMillan is doing a desk calendar. I'm told that one thing to which you should pay attention when you're looking at projects is at what level you get the physical product involved and with McMillan that looks at about $20, with some discounting in the early stages.
* I hadn't noticed until just now that Comix Experience has added a kids' club to its book-club based mechanism to solve its staffing issues brought about by a raise in the minimum wage.
Festivals Extra: CAB/Short Run Doing Exhibitors; Karen Green Named Programming Director At CAB
* Columbia University's Karen Green will be programming director at Comic Arts Brooklyn starting this year. Paul Karasik had done the event's programming the last couple of years. Before that, it was Bill Kartalopoulos' area of concern as one of three BCGF founders. So that's a show with a significant programming pedigree. Green was a moderator at least the last two years: she did a memorable young cartoonists panel in 2013 that I attended.
* I haven't run this site's publishing news column in a while as I think things through in terms of the site's future, but I should note this word of delay on a Jeff Lemire/Dean Ormston book being delayed due Ormston's health condition. We wish everyone involved the best in health and best for that project.
* Melissa Starker reviews the current exhibits on display at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum revolving exhibition spaces. They're very good shows, both of them, with a ton of art I've never seen in print let alone on a wall. It says something positive about the museum that all of the shows thus far have been worth seeing, as Columbus isn't always a place where people find themselves on a regular basis and you might end up in town where there's an exhibit of work with which you're not directly familiar.
CR Newsmaker: A Short Interview With Jon Goldwater
Archie Comics Publications, Inc. announced a kickstarter today to the tune of a hoped-for $350,000 in support of three comics already roughly on their schedule. This is a new Kevin Keller-starring series from Dan Parent and J. Bone (Life With Kevin), a new Jughead-oriented series with Chip Zdarsky writing and an artist to be named later (Jughead), and a Betty and Veronica-oriented series by the creator Adam Hughes (Betty and Veronica). They would be considered part of a group effort with the recently launched Archie Andrews-focused series by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, Archie. The ultimate goal as I understand it is to create an involved group of overlapping narratives more reminiscent of modern comics and television continuities, part of a broader, ongoing effort to use the Archie characters and concepts in different milieux and genres.
The Kickstarter struck me as odd.
I recognize need-based crowdfunding. I also understand the argument that on a foundational level how money gets raised for a project can be viewed as a neutral thing. This argument states that the money has to come from somewhere, and barring outright malfeasance there's no significant difference between asking people to pay ahead of time in a crowdfunder and writing a check for a project derived from previous profits. I get the reasoning. I also hope to use one of these mechanisms in the near future for a project of my own.
My worry is tied up in the fact that in a traditional publishing relationship capital is provided by publishers like Archie. Moving away from that shifts some of the onus for the projects' funding away from the publishing house and onto both the creators (who are generally asked to support and promote) and the fans (who are asked to support, promote and pay). I've never heard of an owner or a publishing house shifting their percentage of profits to compensate for this new divvying up of responsibilities. Therefore I see established publishers like Archie crowdfunding in much the same light that some people view general marketing/PR creep in prose publishing over the last several years. If I'm finding my own celebrity endorsement and doing my own blog and running my own twitter account and now driving customers to pay you for incentives that I've created... what is it that the publisher is doing? Am I getting enough from the publisher for their share of the profits to be justified?
There are some answers to these questions. A publisher has a lock on certain characters. They may have a certain amount of taste and skill that they employ in setting up a project: the choice to use Staples, say, or Zdarsky. They may have expertise for how to promote and raise money, even if it involves contributions from others. They may have an audience base, a way to get at them, and a certain amount of goodwill on which to trade.
It's very much possible to imagine a wholly virtuous outcome. Yet it also seems unlikely that the relationship, in shifting, might in every case snap back to the previous levels. In fact, there's little reason to believe this probable. There are implications to such a move. Successful crowdfunders run by established companies may allow audience and creator participation in funding to become normalized in a way where companies that are much less upstanding use the same logical construct for more direct exploitation.
In this case, I also found the amount of money asked for to be strange considering the size of that request and the fact these books are to be sold into at least one significant non-returnable market. I and several CR readers writing the site also wondered if this meant there were money problems at Archie more generally, or if the company was hurting for capital. Those same readers also complained of the strategy of painting Archie -- in publishing for 75 years, and chock full of cultural icons -- as some sort of aggressive outsider comics-making entity in focusing on the size of its wallet with those available to Marvel and DC.
Archie's Alex Segura noted my discomfort and offered to take initial questions to publisher/ceo Jon Goldwater. I appreciate that courtesy and Goldwater's kindness and attention in responding.
TOM SPURGEON: So my first question is: are you guys okay? I've been hit with some e-mails that say this sounds like the end for Archie, that if you can't meet your obligations for a few comics series in a print-to-order Direct Market with a massive influx of cash, how can we know that Archie will be here two, three, five years from now?
JON GOLDWATER: We're completely fine. We've been around for 75 years and hopefully 75 more and beyond. But I get why that's the first reaction for some people. It's more about timing for these projects. Normally, we could put these books out over time. We'd just have to sprinkle them out over a few years, as opposed to fast-tracking them. The Kickstarter allows us to build on the expected success of Archie #1 in a more meaningful way while also offering some cool rewards for our fans who choose to back the Kickstarter.
The reality is this, and perhaps it's something we need to be clearer about on the KS page: Over the last six months, Archie has been expanding in a historic and unexpected way. We were fortunate enough to be invited to sell our digests in Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart launched in March and Target just last week. This is a huge opportunity, but not one that comes free of cost. Frankly, it costs a small fortune and in order to do that, we've had to invest a tremendous amount of resources into making sure those books are a success and the store space is maximized. However, we don't want to miss another great opportunity -- the one presented by Archie #1, and how it can reposition the character for years to come. So, the goal of this Kickstarter is to allow us to put out these books on an accelerated timetable while also investing heavily in places like Wal-Mart and Target in a way no other comic publisher is doing.
But yes, we are OK -- thank you for asking!
SPURGEON: If this doesn't work, will the titles be canceled?
GOLDWATER: If we don't meet our funding goal I still expect us to put out these titles in some form -- probably not as quickly and not in the format we've tied to the campaign, but no, they won't be canceled. These books will happen. We want them to happen. The idea for this is to make them happen faster because we know fans want them faster.
SPURGEON: If it does work, will more titles be done this way?
GOLDWATER: I think, if it works, then the door is open to revisit using Kickstarter. We've always been open to trying new things and being innovative with how we engage with our fans or promote our material. So I don't want to definitely say yes, but the option would exist.
SPURGEON: Are there siginificant cash drains affecting the company from legal trouble or potential future legal outcomes?
GOLDWATER: No -- this comes down to us being a small publishing company looking to expand on a title that we know will be successful and has really engaged and intrigued our fan base. We want to get these books out to them faster and build a line around Archie #1, as opposed to parceling these related books out over the next five years.
SPURGEON: Are you willing to break down how the money will be spent in combination with perceived revenues on these three comics? Because the math seems odd considering past kickstarters of this size and the fact that you will also be making some money off of these titles once done the old-fashioned way.
GOLDWATER: [Mr. Goldwater declined to comment.]
SPURGEON: Are your creators making top dollar on these projects? Will Archie staff be donating time, money and resources or will they be paid their usual amount?
GOLDWATER: [Mr. Goldwater declined to comment.]
SPURGEON: How was the $350K figured arrived at?
GOLDWATER: We crunched numbers on our end and went into it asking "What would we need to get these books out faster?"
To properly market, promote, print (hopefully a lot of copies) and advertise is very expensive. We want these comics to be given the best possible chances for success. Taking the Target/Wal-Mart factor into account and knowing that we wanted an accelerated timeline to get these books out closer to the release of Archie #1.
SPURGEON: Who is administering the Kickstarter, its rewards, and so on?
GOLDWATER: In terms of conceptualizing the Kickstarter, managing the page, promoting it and fulfillment of rewards, that's all coming from Archie.
SPURGEON: Granted, Archie is not DC or Marvel -- you're not Fantagraphics or Drawn and Quarterly, either. You're surely not Youth In Decline or AdHouse. Is "scrappy" and generally in need of help to publish the best terms to describe a company that has multiple paid staffers, outside consultants, and multiple licensing deals?
GOLDWATER: I think the term is relative, to be honest. And if you don't see us that way, that's completely fine. The point we're trying to make is more about the perception of Archie, because it's been around so long, is on the same level of corporate money DC or Marvel have. We aren't on that level. We are "scrappy" in that context. That's why we used that phrase.
Festivals Extra: Harvey Awards Nominations Deadline Is Today
Last day for the Harvey Awards nomination ballot, which is one of the severe tests of industry loyalty in that you really do have to work through a year's worth of material in some fashion in order to find your choices. I remember that being a heck of a couple of hours at work back in the 1990s -- although I probably shouldn't have been charging Fantagraphics for that, now that I think of it. Sorry, Gary.
Also, I suppose an added inducement in terms of voting on industry awards is that the more people vote the less likely some sort of jackass splinter group with boring political motivations will hijack the proceedings. That would be depressing. I mean, it's not likely because comics isn't built that way, but why chance it?
My Insomnia Is Your Gain, Episode 2058 I went and linked up the Five For Friday results for the 417th version of that specific exercise, this time focusing on favorite comics facilitated by Chris Oliveros during his 25 years as the publisher at Drawn and Quarterly. I liked the results. I though there was a really wide range of (mostly) specific material selected, everything from David Collier to those Waiting For Food books to books from all the volumes of the great anthology series to Seth to Chester to Adrian and so on.
That's a nice accomplishment, to have a range of material to which people respond, particularly in that a conventional-wisdom strength of Drawn and Quarterly -- it was part of Jog's statement on the company's history under Oliveros -- is that all the material seems to arise from a steadying, confident aesthetic.
Anyway, there's a lot of great work there to explore and maybe those links will make it three percent easier to do that. In a lot of cases you can buy individual comics from some of these potent cartoonists for half the money it takes to secure work from cartoonists maybe not as talented that happen to be publishing today. They're still good comics! I think about ten years people are going to be hardcore mining out of print alt-work from the 1990s in a significant, so this is your chance to get a head start.
* Dustin Harbin and Mike Dawson on Batman: Year One. Here's a panel discussion primarily focused on Gerhard, the backdrop and scenework artist for Cerebus during the bulk of its long run. Chris Sims on Convergence: Atom. Sims is correct: that comic is really funny and weird and stands out against a backdrop of mostly disjointed, tired-seeming efforts (granted, most of those books constituted a rough, rough assignment).
* Paul Morton talks to Daniel Clowes. It's really great news that we're likely going to have two years in a row where Clowes is engaged with the comics-interested press; he's a very interesting thinker about comics. Robin McConnell and Brandon Graham talk to Anne Ishii and Graham Kolbeins.
* I think CA's Andrew Wheeler makes a good point here. I'm with Wheeler in that I love shows that breathe a bit, but I think when I ask pros and attendees there are a lot more fans of wall to wall scheduling that I'd like to admit.
* speaking of CA, this was an enjoyable feature heading into TCAF weekend.
Merle Tingley, who worked as Ting over several decades in and around London, Ontario, received the call to join the Canadian Cartoonist Hall Of Fame -- also known as the "Giants Of The North." The 93-year-old Tingley accepted in a pre-taped segment.
This year's jury included Fiona Smyth, Zach Worton and Conan Tobias. Among those presenting on stage during the awards or otherwise involved in some functional capacity were the actor Don McKellar, Lynda Barry and David Collier.
FFF Results Post #417—Chris Oliveros Special
On Friday, CR readers were asked to "Name Five Specific Drawn And Quarterly Publications You Enjoy." This is how they responded.
I feel very fortunate to have been the right age & sensibility to latch onto D & Q's publications right when it started. I don't have the money or time to keep up nowadays but in the early 1990s I bought anything they published that showed up at my LCS.
Those choices are among some of my favorite, but I picked them because they reflect some of the best aspect of Drawn & Quarterly. A commitmment to excellence and showcasing new and emerging talents, their high quality reprints of international books and their investment in Canadian comics creator.
2015 Doug Wright Awards Go To Bunjevac, Fitzgerald, Willumsen I'll have a more complete story up in about six hours, but the winners for this year's Doug Wright Awards have been announced.
2. PEN honors Charlie Hebdo. Art Spiegelman gets Neil Gaiman and Alison Bechdel to join him as replacement table hosts in a political charged evening.
3. Free Comic Book Day 2015 has come and gone, an always-reliable spotlight into the world of brick and mortar, direct market retail. It seems to have become reliably successful for participating stores.
Winner Of The Week
Chris Oliveros.
Losers Of The Week
Stores that don't participate in FCBD. I don't mean that they're losers like they're second-rate people, but so many stores have made this work that to not have made this work puts you on the other side of something.
Quote Of The Week
"Chris Oliveros has been the best publisher, friend and shepherd that an artist could ever want. I have been proud to be associated with him all these years. He gave me the tools and the opportunity to become the cartoonist I am today. I am happy to see him resume his career as a cartoonist himself -- since he is one of the very best." -- Seth
*****
the comic image selected is from the brief but notable 1970s run of Seaboard/Atlas
Chris Oliveros Moves From Publisher Position At D&Q; Peggy Burns To Assume Publisher Role
In a move announced in their 25th anniversary volume but that also became part of a weekend Globe & Mail story that broke on the Internet Friday, the longtime arts-comics publisher Drawn and Quarterly announced that Chris Oliveros would be stepping into a contributing editor role from his longtime run as that company's publisher. Peggy Burns will assume the publishing position. Tom Devlin will become the company's executive editor.
The Globe & Mail story describes the development of the move as starting approximately a year ago when Oliveros approached Burns and Devlin with his desire to step into this newer, reduced role. Both Devlin and Burns told the Globe and Mail the offer came as a complete surprise.
Oliveros' move into another role should certainly add some oomph to the company's 25th anniversary, including the debut of a massive, celebratory book this weekend. Burns joins a select group of women with the publisher title and/or those responsibilities under another name, including but certainly not limited to Jenette Kahn, Vijaya Iyer, Cat Yronwode and Deni Loubert. Burns' work on behalf of Drawn and Quarterly in terms of their publicity and marketing is widely admired within the comics industry, and is frequently cited as a key to the company's success from the middle of the last decade onward. Before moving to Drawn and Quarterly, Burns was employed by DC Comics.
Oliveros ends an extremely distinguished run as the company's initial driving force and longtime steadying hand and repository of wisdom. A cartoonist himself, Oliveros carved a path in comics that favored a rising aesthetic for alt-comics divorced in many ways from the underground comics of the generation past. His initial books, most notably an anthology of the same name, set a high standard for art direction in service to these new comics. From there, Oliveros built a company around talents that were at least Canadian-centric: Julie Doucet, Maurice Vellekoop, Seth, Chester Brown (who ended up at the company after a long run with Vortex) and transplant Joe Matt. With that group of cartoonist as his bedrock, Oliveros' company landed California resident Adrian Tomine at a time when any number of publishers showed interest in the just-graduate-from-college comics-maker. The company eventually became one of the vanguard for publishing uncompromised literary-tone comics to a discerning adult audience. With Peggy Burns and then I believe slightly later Tom Devlin added to the fold, the company became a full-service boutique publisher and literary force: reintroducing readers to Lynda Barry and Tove Jansson, introducing audiences to manga authors like Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and publishing top-line comic strip reprints with high-end presentation that helped raise the standard of such books. They have very recently started to work with some of the best post-alternative talents, such as Jillian Tamaki, Kate Beaton and Lisa Hanawalt.
Critic Jeet Heer put it to CR succintly. "Simply put, Chris's achievements as a Canadian publisher are unprecedented."
Coming to terms with Oliveros' publishing run may be best left to the recent 25th anniversary volume. It's certainly a significant career with which to grapple. "The other day I was trying to come up with jokes on Twitter about which prominent authors would be writing about the wackiest comics from Drawn and Quarterly's past in their 25th Anniversary book -- something like 'Jonathan Lethem on The Flames of Gyro.' But it wasn't long before I realized that there is no Flames of Gyro for D&Q." Joe McCulloch laughed while speaking to CR. "Instead, there is a frightening continuity of aesthetic, developing from alt-weekly/autobio-type early '90s fare into that tremendous, patent appreciation for bygone cartoon and book design quality we all now unconsciously recognize as the D&Q feel." McCulloch noted that one reason for how D&Q developed the way it did was because of Oliveros' background as a comics-maker. "Maybe it's because Chris Oliveros is himself a cartoonist that this feels more like a vision's refinement than a publisher coping with resources, connections and trends, although obviously those were active agents, and obviously Oliveros did not operate alone. But such was the certainty to this publishing vision that more than once it upset the very trajectory of how reprints and translations of comics should be presented -- those long, detailed Jeet Heer Gasoline Alley books with the Chris Ware jackets; the whole Adrian Tomine/Yoshihiro Tatsumi experiment -- through what still feels like gale force of taste."
Heer, who worked on some of Drawn and Quarterly's best known historical reprints, in turn praised Oliveros in terms of comics history, publishing history and within the more specific realm of Canadian publishing. "Chris Oliveros is one of the most important comics publishers ever, indeed along with Gary Groth and Kim Thompson one of the few comics publishers that deserves to rank with figures like James Laughlin of New Directions," Heer told CR. "Chris built the single most important Canadian comics company ever, giving Canadian comics a distinctive art focus that sets them apart from the United States. Drawn and Quarterly is almost alone among Canadian publishers -- comics or non-comics -- in having an international profile and the vast majority of its sales outside Canada."
While D&Q has had a handful of critics over the years, some of that might be described as misapprehension based on how Canadian publishing works. In his note to CR, Heer directly addressed the idea the Drawn and Quarterly might have over-benefited over the years from government support. "It's notable that government grants are a much smaller part of D&Q's revenue stream -- less than 10 percent -- than that of most independent Canadian publishers, where 50 percent to 90 percent is the norm. So Chris has really created a new model for Canadian publishing, one that is not likely to be replicated."
A cartoonist associated for more than two decades with Drawn and Quarterly, Seth gave CR the following while heading out the door to TCAF. "Chris Oliveros has been the best publisher, friend and shepherd that an artist could ever want. I have been proud to be associated with him all these years. He gave me the tools and the opportunity to become the cartoonist I am today. I am happy to see him resume his career as a cartoonist himself -- since he is one of the very best." The cartoonist, whose Palooka-Ville has been with the publisher since 1991, noted some melancholy about the situation while looking forward. "I will miss him at the helm... as the Chief. But all that said, I have faith in Peggy Burns and Tom Devlin to continue steering the ship of D&Q excellently -- as they have been already doing for years anyway. End of an era. Business as usual. Hard to say which."
For Heer, the future looks bright. "The fact that Chris is able to pass along his company to a new generation is also a rare achievement in Canada, where many small presses tend to be one-generation affairs. Prior to Chris, Canadian comics publishers tended to be flaky and eccentric: Dave Sim, Bill Marks. Chris created an actual company that will have a long life past his retirement."
Jog, like Seth, predicts more of the same. "As to the post-Oliveros D&Q, I would expect some acknowledgement of how useful this rare continuity can be among major small press publishers, which is to say probably no massive shifts. Burns & Devlin I already associate with D&Q's pursuit of younger cartoonists and applicable webcomics: Kate Beaton's Feifferian knockabout and Jillian Tamaki's hardsell vulnerability. Even the Rookie Yearbook project wasn't a million miles off from Lynda Barry's scrapbook manifestos. I would expect more in that direction, of the young and fitting, and if I have been coaxed, perhaps, into projecting these connections, trust that D&Q will remain at least an agent of persuasion."
Oliveros also plans to make more comics work of his own, beginning with a self-published version of The Envelope Manufacturer. The January 2016 release will be distributed by D&Q. The Globe and Mail article lists Oliveros' age at 48, indicating a significant amount of time left for a variety of projects: those from his own hands, and those from others.
We'll continue with full coverage on Monday. I'm sure there are details yet to be released.
* Alan Gardner notes that GoComics.com has picked up Brian Fies' reputation-making Mom's Cancer, thus returning it to the kind of on-line platform where that successful work started. In a different piece, Gardner says that the same site will publish Dan Collins' Looks Good On Paper.
Go, Read: Jeet Heer On The Aesthetic Failure Of Charlie Hebdo
The writer and critic Jeet Heer has an approach on the Charlie Hebdo material worth considering in what has suddenly become a crowded field of articles on the subject. In a New Republic article, Heer suggests that Hebdo adheres to an outdate mode of making a satirical point about racism, citing 1960s satirist/comedian Lenny Bruce and the cartoonist Robert Crumb as its direct antecedents. It's something I'd like to dig into a bit; Crumb is an interesting subject to bring up wihin this context because a lot of the criticism lobbied his way either denies or doesn't care that the artist doesn't work in this mode anymore.
* not comics: this article at Movie Mezzanine seems to hit every single angle of the release of Avengers 2 earlier this month in a way that would allow you to google as many follow-ups as you might like.
* I saw Avengers 2. I thought it was disjointed and odd. It felt like the guts had been cut out of it in a way that moments of potential dramatic catharsis seemed routinely unearned. It also had a particular form of sequel-itis that assumes everyone loves all the characters, which was kind of off-putting and I think led to a step-back in really nailing down memorable scenes, modern popcorn cinema's primary currency. The movie felt it was a short a half-dozen turn to your pal and high-five moments, and what was there was oddly underplayed. I enjoyed a lot of the spectacle and I liked its attention to saving-people morality, but I did fall asleep a couple of times and was aware of the time I spent in the cinema. I'll watch it again someday. I find most of those movies good company.
* as for what's out there in terms of general criticism of the movie, I don't have a rooting interest in licensed properties beyond realizing that kids attach to them. So while I can hope those properties function the way kids need them to, I mostly engage with character/cultural analysis as an intellectual exercise. That's probably the place where there's a whole lot more listening for me to do, in other words. It's just a hunch, but I bet the filmmakers thought they were casting the Black Widow and the Hulk in opposite-gender roles a bit -- the way Prince in Under The Cherry Moon was the Marilyn Monroe -- and felt this would give their nerdly courtship a unique spin. The scenes didn't work as well as two actors that talented and good-looking should have made them, a lot of telling not showing, and I don't think anyone thought through how the various reveals would play in terms of individual character beats. The same thing happens all the time in event comic books. These are all event comic books now.
* finally, Bob Temuka wonders after recent 2000 AD covers.
Go, Read: Art Spiegelman On Becoming Involved In The Charlie Hebdo/PEN Awards Affair
Kirsten Salyer talks to Art Spiegelman for Time.
In what seems like a solid summary interview for its size, Spiegelman holds forth in terms of where he's coming from and what led to his involvement with the PEN/Hebdo awards controversy. The length of the piece could also be a boon for people that want to boil this down to winning arguments, as Spiegelman's language is colorful and designed to get his points across quickly and to maximum effect. Language like that can be seized upon for their effect rather than understood for their meaning -- that's just the way Internet discourse is now. Still, it feels like a solid snapshot to me; Spiegelman is one of the more articulate cartoonists there's ever been and the most able defender of the values he holds.
I'm intrigued by his notion that the differences between the Pamela Geller group and the Hebdo staff is not only something worth noting but may be the thing worth our attention in this matter. The key may be in whether one sees any differences at all. If you do, that doesn't mean that the value of statements by those groups can't be pulled apart, examined and criticized; they surely can, and they will be. There's something very powerful about the notion that we don't get to define the context in which we would prefer work to be seen, infinitely more so in these connected times, and I think there's a lot of discussion to be had as to how that has an impact on the value of the satire we encounter, the art that we negotiate.
One the other hand, if you don't see a difference or two, if these two acts are the same, I'm not sure what there's left to talk about other than underlining the virtue of the resulting position and sorting through potential outcomes in terms of their desirability.
* I've linked to a Art Spiegelman and Alison Bechdel on their participation in the Charlie Hebdo award controversy, as well as a couple of people protesting. Here's Neil Gaiman, the third of the three prominent comics personalities involved. Matt Groening apparently couldn't make it because of a work issue.
* this PDF commentary on MoCCA 2015 from 2D Cloud will be added to the link list, but it's fun and I love the format so let's include it here. I would love to see similar PDFs from companies related to events like this one. What a clever way to mark an event.
* here's Darryl Cunningham with two Sunday-style comics featuring Bette Nesmith Graham. Yes, that Nesmith.
* various comics-makers discuss their favorite books as kids/favorite kids books; I think there's some messiness there in terms of the parameters, but it makes for a fun article so no one should really care. I like all of the choices of which I'm aware. Special points to Chris Schweizer for choosing True Grit, which is a fun book for anyone of any age and seems like one of those adult books a kid could have a lot of fun reading.
* the site Broken Frontier is in the midst of a fundraiser for an anthology and some of those involved have asked me via separate outreaches for coverage. I'm always a bit confused by fancy anthology, big-money fundraisers, and the idea that a publisher doesn't bring capital to the table. I'm also told forcefully I'm full of shit on those topics: that it shouldn't matter where the money comes from and it's presumptuous to insert myself into the decision-making process of artists who participate. I like the Broken Frontier site and will take some time later today to check out their project, which features several comics-makers I enjoy and is paying them for their work.
* if I were a comics-maker looking for a home for my all-ages work, the numbers they move into the market indicate that Papercutz would be right up there with Scholastic and First Second in terms of desirable publishing partners. Congratulations to the authors.
* not comics: the writer/director James Gunn wrote a longish facebook post about the criticism focused at writer/director Joss Whedon for his new Avengers film. It's worth reading if you're super into these kinds of cultural moments. Again, what I find fascinating is the idea that a subset of fans are certain they know the correct way to use Marvel's property, a level of involvement with licensed properties that's astonishing for how it overreaches functional wisdom about how something like that works. People are writing about fictional characters as if someone writing them a certain way is the same thing as a demeaning act done a real person -- not just as a bad thing in and of itself in terms of cultural messaging. The coarse-dialogue aspect of this is a far distant second item of interest, at least for me. As far as the criticisms themselves go, I would imagine they would be less of an issue if there were a range of strong, prominent female characters in such films on a regular basis, and I suspect some of the energy here is that general criticism brought to bear in this specific circumstance. Whedon clears some accusatory elements floating around the Internet here.
Clowes' last book was Wilson, which came out in 2010 from Drawn and Quarterly. Fantagraphics is in the process of releasing a slipcase-cover edition of the first 18 issues of Eightball as The Complete Eightball. The book is being snuck into signings and festival appearance and will hit standard channels soon.
As is always the case with Clowes' work, I very much look forward to reading the book.
Alison Bechdel, Neil Gaiman, Art Spiegelman Among Those Sitting In For PEN Authors Tonight
Art Spiegelman has helped to round up a small group of prominent comics-makers to fulfill prominent roles at tonights PEN Awards, authors who declines to fill the seats in questions because of their objection giving Charlie Hebdo an award for bravery.
Alison Bechdel wrote what I thought was a very honest piece here, which underlines her uncertainty in fulfilling the role she's been asked to take on. I'm sure there are those that will be horrified by her choice to sit at the awards ceremony and I'm sure there will those criticial of her indecisiveness. People on both sides will likely make sweeping statements as to the artist's motivations in the matter. It's too bad. I think more people are in Bechdel's headspace than those possessed of a greater certainty would care to admit.
One thing with which I agree in Bechdel's statement is that it's better to be more informed than less, better to argue the reality rather than an abstraction, and this site can help with both of those things a bit. Another point of agreement is that what the authors contributing to Charlie Hebdo are up to is different in a number of significant ways from last weekend's noxious free speech stunt that led to deaths in Texas. In fact, just about all they share is that in neither case should people have died or been hurt or threatened with same for the drawing of cartoons. I also share Bechdel's gratitude that there's some additional discussion going on now, although I think the door to fruitful conversation has only been cracked a tiny bit this time out and may by the end of the day be closed altogether... at least until the next time something comes up.
Submissions for the Ignatz Awards are now open. These are juried at the nominations level and then the nominees are voted upon at the show itself. I always suggest people involve themselves in awards programs and whatever vestiges of industry are left and then back out if they discover it's not something for them, and I'll suggest that here. The awards ceremony is fun; always a bunch of new names, it seems, picking up awards.
All Eyes Drift Up North: TCAF This Weekend The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is being held this weekend in and around the big reference library and nearby Marriott. They were announcing guests as late as last week and I'm not sure they've announced all of their programming even yet -- that's always the way they've played it up there, though, and it seems to work for them. That one has settled into places as one of the four or five big books of Spring and the Spring event for art and alt-comics. Their guest list is sublime. I would have killed to have met Killoffer and Hunt Emerson, but every single artists there could hold my attention for two to three hours at a time.
I don't have a ton of tips for this show, but I have a few.
If you're in the US, get your initial money at your bank rather than at an ATM or, god forbid, a money exchange. That's your best value, and every major bank will let you order some foreign currency at no charge -- at least every major bank I've used. Remember that your bank will likely accept back paper currency but not the $1 and $2 coins that Canadians love to saddle you with (and should). Make those last few coins your last couple of tips, or if you're using Pearson buy a meal at the airport.
Too late for this tip now, but I always suggest flying Porter. It used to be because it was much cheaper. Now it's still a little bit cheaper but it's way easier to get from the island where the little airport is to the neighborhood where the show is taking place than it is coming to that neighborhood from Pearson. If you took my advice there, you can take a cab from the airport to say the Marriott for about $22 including tax. Look around on the shuttle; there's likely someone with whom you can share that cab. One thing I didn't know until last year is that a shuttle bus will take you to subway system, which I've found really easy to negotiate. So you can get up there for about $3 or something, it's ridiculous.
This is the show that put Airbnb on the comics show map. Emerald City and the New York shows are a couple of the others that see a lot of business go through that service. Toronto's a good show for this because of the ease of the subways if one is nearby and the laidback energy of the show doesn't make heading back to a decently far-away room like some sort of horrible thing that's happening to you. I don't use this service, I stay at the Marriott when I go, mostly for those sweet, sweet points.
TCAF has really, really strong evening events that I don't think people use with a passion to match their quality. There are shows where evening events are to be avoided, but this isn't one of them. Hopefully you'll find one or two of interest. I always do the Doug Wright Awards for coverage's sake although that show is certainly at a manageable length for anyone with even a glimmer of comics interest.
As far as informal stuff goes, the hotel bars kind of blow so people tend to drift to a variety of places. The bar across the street from the Marriott I think is gone, which is too bad -- that was a nice place for the olds. The Pilot on Cumberland has been a traditional place for the youngs and for older people to send one of their number in before moving somewhere else. I think I've had late-night drinks at Burg's on the Bloor/Yonge corner when that was Burgundy's and now that one's moved down the street? Either/Both seem like a place where you can get a beer in a short walk from what is likely your hotel. The last couple of years I used a place on Charles called 7 West Cafe for post-drinking late-nights and a couple of breakfasts -- that's close without being a constant parade of comics people. I'm afraid I can't help you more than that, though. It's a good show to go with the flow.
I'd go about 30 minutes after opening at the earliest -- it gets a little jammed up right at first. The show floor is amazing; it's a great buying show, with lots of alt- and art-comics people breaking out a winter's worth of comics, prints and art. Make sure you do all of it. There was a windows area I actually just missed for a couple of years, and TCAF will stick people into the back and side rooms. One person I knew didn't realize there was like 80 people upstairs. Really scout out what's there. Kevin Huizenga last year was selling cheap original art!
Food. There's a small market in the same building as the Marriott. Lunch is pretty solid right around the library, just the walk in off the street places. There's nothing special, but that sort of makes it easier, too: you can pick up a burrito and not have to worry you missed a sublime burrito up the way. Dinner I always recommend grabbing two or three friends and hightailing it via the subway to a destination restaurant, perhaps in Chinatown or over by The Beguiling. And yes, you need to see the Beguiling at some point, if you're not doing an evening program there. I did that with brunch one year, over in that neighborhood, and it worked out great.
The programming is good as a break from the show -- note that some of it is a far enough walk to be 15 minutes on each side. The programming last year went right up to show close, which caught some people I was with by surprise, so make sure you plan for that. The rooms are small, so if you're hoping to see someone, you'll get to see them up close and personal. I prefer spotlights over themed panels at this point, but that's just me. Go to anything Anne Ishii does.
The afterparty last year got great reviews from my fellow olds from Peter Birkemoe's effort to diversify the space so that young people could dance and old people could sit around and complain about young people. Don't be afraid to ask around for that. If you're not supposed to go, tell them you need to cover it for Comics Reporter.
Mostly: have fun. That's a good energy show because people are buying and cartoonists feel less horrible about themselves when people are into buying what they have to offer. Toronto is one of the great cities, The Beguiling is one of the great comic shops, and it's been a long, long winter. Enjoy!
*****
You should buy some comics.
This may be the strongest line-up of debut books across the board I've ever seen for a comics show. The only thing I think might be there that's not list is a collection of Steven Gilbert's Colville, one of the great, lost comics of the 1990s. Gilbert is back now -- he won a recent Doug Wright honor -- and it'll be interesting to rexplore the work that made his comeback anticipated rather than ignored. That's treasure worth hunting down.
The Drawn and Quarterly book will be the book of the show for its size, for its content (I'm one of ten thousand in there, but trust me: you can cut my entry out with a razor blade and the value goes down .0001 percent), and for the central role that Drawn and Quarterly plays at the show and in Canadian comics. Enjoy being at the show where that one makes its debut.
I'm not kidding when I'm saying almost every book on the list is worth checking out if not buying outright without taking a look at the insides. So it's hard for me to pick a few more. SuperMutant Magic Academy strikes me as a potential major-league fun book. Joe Decie is giving this one out until 100 are gone. The Pigeon Press books look good to me: Burns/Killoffer, a graphic novella from short-story oriented Simon Hanselmann and new (officially self-published) Nick Mandaag. Dustin Harbin is a special guest, and people root for that guy and his work. Who doesn't like the Immonens? Who doesn't enjoy Ed Luce? The Pow Pow Press books look intriguing, there's a new Berlin... it's ridiculous. I can't cover all of them. I'm very jealous of those of you at this show with money for comics.
Remember that because of TCAF's giant guest list you can get a lot of these signed, and as always, remember your local comics shop, particularly if they might have ordered some of this stuff for you. The one great thing about that is that there is work and art to buy that has nothing to do with out weekly buying habits, if that's the direction you wish to go.
*****
The only tip that anyone cared to write the site as an add so far -- one person tweeted it at me -- is that the car service facilitator Uber is in full effect up in Toronto and is a way many folks up there save some money. I've yet to use that service, although like most people visiting New York I have some experience with favorite car services and the like.
By Request Extra: Erika Moen’s Second Oh Joy Sex Toy Volume
A half-dozen CR readers asked me to place the second volume of Erika Moen's Oh Joy Sex Toy into my next column on crowd-funders. I haven't run the column in a while, so I'll just take care of this with its own post. I imagine this kind of thing is a total slam dunk: a successful first volume, a known quantity, and a popular web iteration. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's already funded although there are many stretch goals to come.
* some poor person from France talks to Chip Zdarsky.
* more on autobio comics, a theme running through various comics places on Tumblr right now.
* here's a not-comics reminder that sometimes businesses go under because of bad business decisions as much as a change in context or the back and forth of the historical tides.
* Johanna Draper Carlson points out that Kate Beaton is going to have a two-book year. It's a very good year when we get multiple works from our best and most popular cartoonists -- we have such a broad array of pretty good ones with sizable followings that we forget the effect that bigger names can have on the excitement level.
* not comics: a famous writer/director closed down his Twitter account yesterday, perhaps because of backlash to his treatment of a character in a brand-new superhero movie. (I'm not naming names so I can ask my brother if he was aware of this until I mentioned it here. Hi, Whit.) The thing that most interests me here is the certainty of fans that they know not just good/bad treatment of characters they enjoy but correct/incorrect. That's such a victory for those companies, to have people involved with their properties on that level, particularly in that the argument for correct treatment seems much more convincingly whatever gets paid for and put out there by those companies.
Two Suspects Dead After Shooting Outside Draw Muhammed Contest Event In Texas
The mind boggles in the course of writing such a headline, but there you go. I don't believe anyone should be the victim of violence due to making a cartoon, but I also hold free speech stunts in withering contempt and see them as the different-amendment equivalent of those ding dongs that walk into a Carl's Jr with assault rifles.
My heart goes out to the families of those threatened and harmed.
A Quick, Personal Note Regarding Con Attendance
For the very meager worth receiving the news has to a few of you out there, I won't be attending this week's TCAF due to personal matters. I will also not be attending HeroesCon in June. This will make the remainder of my convention year (hopefully): CAKE, CCI, Autoptic (this one is the most iffy), SPX, CXC and CAB. That seems like a ridiculous number of shows for someone not doing many shows, but that's the world we live in now.
I regret not being on hand to celebrate Drawn & Quarterly's 25th anniversary and to see all the friends I don't see anywhere else but in Toronto, or those I see only rarely, period. I hope everyone has a great time in that first-class celebration of the best the art form has to offer and I'll hopefully see you up there next year and for many years to come.
* I don't think it's accessible to everyone, but there's a rare Charlie Hebdo discussion here that involves both general sides of that whole mess talking to one another in civil terms.
* one of those people that either hides their name where I can't see it or figures everyone knows them talkes to Robert McLiam Wilson.
FFF Results Post #416—Late To The Party
On Friday, CR readers were asked, "Name Four Comics On Which You Were Late To The Party, Liking Them Far After Most People Did Or Far After You Might Have Been Expected To, For Whatever Reason; Provide The Reason For #4." This is how they responded.
*****
Danny Ceballos
1. Red Colored Elegy
2. King-Cat Comics & Stories
3. Cold Heat
4. Kramers Ergot 4
5. I vividly recall the first time I saw that "holy shit, what is THIS?!" cover at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles. I thought someone had snuck this weird book on the shelf as a joke. I would spend the next couple of months leafing through that copy before I finally bought it. Owning the book didn't help either, because each time I picked it up to read it seemed to morph into something I'd never seen before. I instantly loved some of those comics and viscerally hated others. Now, I don't know what I was thinking, because I love every square inch of it. That book is one of the greatest comics reading experiences of my life.
*****
Marty Yohn
1. Pogo
2. Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange
3. Conan the Barbarian by Barry Windsor-Smith
4. Akira
5. I don't appreciate much Japanese manga (wary after Pokemon and Dragonball Z), but when my son was younger, he borrowed the entire six volume set of Akira from our local library. He insisted I read it when he finished. I was taken aback by the scope and complexity of the story, and the detail of the artwork. I'm a little more open to manga influences these days.
1: Les Cites Obscures
2: Sandman
3: B.P.R.D
4: Paul a Quebec
5: The first time I heard of Michel Rabagliati's book Paul a Quebec, I picked it up at the library. Being from Quebec City myself, I assumed I would enjoy it. Unfortunately, the settig (time period and town) is overwhelmingly present in the beginning, overpowering all like a very potent cheese. I couldn't stand the setting. It took me several years to revisit the book and found both the style and story to be quite pleasant.
1. Pushwagner's Soft City
2. Challengers of the Unknown
3. The Winter Men
4. Moomins
5. I've read the Moomins as a kid but I always found them to be clumsy and worse, boring. I was more into dynamic drawings back then, or what I thought of being dynamic, i.e. mainly John Buscema or Romano Scarpa. When the reprints of the London Evening News strips started in 2009 I wasn't too enthusiastic about the whole thing, but a magazine asked me for a review. It was then when I realized what a gem this series is and so I had to buy all the following collections. I'm still glad I did that review, otherwise I would still think of the Moomins as some roly-poly snore bores.
1. Sam Glanzman
2. Lee Marrs
3. Foolbert Sturgeon
4. Jaime and Mario Hernandez
5. I remember reading my first issue of Love & Rockets in about 1983 or 1984 when I was working (illegally) in a little hole-in-the-wall comic shop in Freehold, New Jersey (I was 13 or 14; it was child labor, but I got paid in comics, so it was okay). I don't think I was ready for it at the time. I dipped back in again and again over the years, but I always felt that I had missed the boat; I just couldn't get into the stories. A few years ago, a review copy of Locas landed in my lap. It was too big a dose and I couldn't absorb it all. This year I finally tried again, Damn. Damn, damn, damn. I could have been reading these guys all of these years? I hate my life.
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. William Steig's Work Generally
2. Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec
3. Skippy
4. Dennis The Menace (Newspaper Version)
5. It took me a long time to appreciate Hank Ketcham's art, but when I did I was really taken with it and remain so today. I also needed to read a bunch of the early stuff, the opportunity for which the Fantagraphics collection effort provided. Weirdly, I never had a problem taking to the best of the Wiseman/Toole comic books.
*****
James Langdell
1. Julia Wertz's Fart Party-era comics
2. Master of Kung Fu
3. Simon & Kirby romance comics
4. Eddie Campbell
5. His early randomly presented wacky pages in US anthologies struck me as the sort of thing I usually enjoyed, but felt these didn't click -- which delayed by a few years reading Eddie's Bacchus, which became a favorite comic ever.
1. Stuck Rubber Baby
2. Krazy Kat
3. Little Nemo
4. Popeye by Elzie Segar
5. I grew up on the classic Fleischer Popeye cartoons and recognized the mysterious "Segar" was somehow responsible for them, but it wasn't until much, much later that I knew who he was or his remarkable contributions to the art of the comic strip. Popeye was still on the funny pages when I was a child, but as good as Bud Sagendorf was, the particular/peculiar magic that was found in Segar's original stories wasn't there. At that time the first reprints of Segar's work were long gone from the public sphere, of course, and it was many, many decades later that I finally began encountering them, first in short run reprints and finally in the gorgeous Fantagraphics collection.
CR Week In Review The top comics-related news stories from April 25 to May 1, 2015:
1. A magazine notes some calls for cartoonists in North American and Australia to be assassinated for depictions of Muhammed, in projected lone-wolf scenarios.
2. Charlie Hebdocomes back into the news on several fronts. Multiple authors express their distaste for honoring Charlie Hebdo with an award for free speech at the PEN Awards, and multiple author express their distaste with the decisions made and opinions expressed by that original group of authors.
Losers Of The Week
Many DC Comics creators, under the way the program for compensating for character use is executed, as per this article.
Quote Of The Week
"Although Kickstarter's terms of use stipulate that any creators unable to satisfy the terms of their agreement with their backers might be subject to legal action, no sane attorney would initiate a class-action suit on a contingency-fee basis against insolvent creators, and no sane backer would ante up the necessary legal fees." -- Gideon Lewis-Kraus
*****
the comic image selected is from the brief but notable 1970s run of Seaboard/Atlas
Today Is Free Comic Book Day; All Hail The Comics Shop
I hope most of you will join me in visiting a local comic book store today. This is their Free Comic Book Day promotion, and I'd say more than half of the shops do something. In most cases with the stores that do something, that something will involve various "free" comics to which these stores have access. I'd recommend three or four, but really you should pick up whatever you want that your store makes available.
Instead, let me encourage you to also just appreciate your comic book store today, or comic book stores that you visit in the course of the year if you don't have one nearby. The fact that these devoted shopkeepers have outlived a lot of their cousins in related pop-culture endeavors is an amazing thing. The bulk of the great comics I've read in my lifetime passed through one of these stores. I love them all, at least a little bit.
Announced here. I enjoyed the documentary even while disagreeing with some of its basic arguments; it's going to become an important historical document for the number of people it caught on film at various key points in their careers. I'm also interested in the fact that a work like this has to kind of chase platforms... there are literally people who have put off watching this until it has come to the platform of their choice, in this case the popular streaming-service aspect of Netflix as it exists right now.
Andy Oliver has announced via Twitter and press release that 
By Tom Spurgeon
* Prajna Desai on 
The top comics-related news stories from May 23 to May 29, 2015:
It's not a new approach, as this classic Bat Lash page indicates. In fact, Bat Lash is the only comic that my memory churned up as doing this kind of thing, although that can't be true at all. It's probably more likely it's the only comic of the general period with which I'm familiar. Anyway, go to the Lu link for a look at the new ad placement. It probably doesn't help matters that for some reason it looks like they're using the ugliest, most garish ad ever created. I wouldn't want that on the same coffee table as my work.
By Tom Spurgeon
* Zainab Akhtar on 
* Sean Gaffney on 
Heidi MacDonald has a nice write-up 
MAR150332 YOU DONT SAY GN $19.99
* Todd Klein on 
Tip #0: Figure Out What's Different From Last Year
Tip #1: Pay Attention To Personal Safety
Tip #11: Finish Working On Stuff For the Show On July 1
I'm not sure what to do with an openly naked PR attempt to manufacture a mini-controversy like an open letter generated by J. David Spurlock of the Wally Wood Estate asking for a credit on the recent Daredevil TV show, 
* I'm not sure that I'd seen the cover for Rosalie Lightning, Tom Hart's sure-to-be-heartbreaking memoir, before 
* Abraham Riesman talks to 
* Van Jensen talks to 
The top comics-related news stories from May 16 to May 22, 2015:
* Paul Buhle on 
* Tim O'Shea talks to 
MAR151663 DREAM FOSSIL COMP STORIES SATOSHI KON GN $24.95
* J. Caleb Mozzocco on 
* Michael Cavna talks to 
* Sean Gaffney on 
The top comics-related news stories from May 9 to May 15, 2015:
* Henry Chamberlain on 
* Sam Riedel talks to 
* Todd Klein on 
* Dustin Harbin and Mike Dawson on 
I'll have a more complete story up in about six hours, but the winners for this year's 
The top comics-related news stories from May 2 to May 8, 2015:
Oliveros' move into another role should certainly add some oomph to the company's 25th anniversary, including the debut of a massive, celebratory book this weekend. Burns joins a select group of women with the publisher title and/or those responsibilities under another name, including but certainly not limited to 
Oliveros ends an extremely distinguished run as the company's initial driving force and longtime steadying hand and repository of wisdom. A cartoonist himself, Oliveros carved a path in comics that favored a rising aesthetic for alt-comics divorced in many ways from the underground comics of the generation past. His initial books, most notably an anthology of the same name, set a high standard for art direction in service to these new comics. From there, Oliveros built a company around talents that were at least Canadian-centric: 
For Heer, the future looks bright. "The fact that Chris is able to pass along his company to a new generation is also a rare achievement in Canada, where many small presses tend to be one-generation affairs. Prior to Chris, Canadian comics publishers tended to be flaky and eccentric: Dave Sim, Bill Marks. Chris created an actual company that will have a long life past his retirement."
* Todd Klein on 
* Alex Hoffman on 
* Henry Chamberlain on 
A long hinted-at announcement 
The 
* Grant Goggans on 
* Richard Bruton on 
The top comics-related news stories from April 25 to May 1, 2015:
