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Five For Friday #59—New Year’s Wishes
posted December 30, 2005
Make Five Comics-Related Wishes for 2006.
1. More boutique publishers releasing big, noteworthy projects like Peter Maresca and Dan Nadel did in 2004.
2. More comic shops.
3. More variety -- okay, any variety -- in the Diamond Top 100.
4. Less news about undercapitalized, disorganized publishers unable to publish their comics.
5. A successful launch for First Second.
*****
This category is now closed. Thanks to all that participated.
*****
Rob Schamberger
More mainstream experimentation with format (anthology, page count, etc)
More newspapers experimenting with comics
More intelligent dialogue on creation, the medium, and the industry
More actual quality work. When the highlights for the year are reprints (Nemo, Calvin & Hobbes, Krigstein, etc), that says something.
More of me getting published
*****
Matthew Craig
1. I
look forward to greater diversity in bookstore comics, in terms of both content and production values.
2. I
hope I can finish and sell my first two graphic novel scripts.
3. I
expect to be pleasantly surprised by Bryan Singer's Superman.
4. I
demand a consistent level of service from my local comic shop, whose devotion to carrying a broad range of mainstream and independent comics has belied their chainstore ethos.
5. But I
wish that Spider-Man would just stop being shit. So I can start reading again.
*****
Gary Esposito
1. More pre-1945 comic strips reprints in hardcover.
2. More post-1945 comic strips reprints in hardcover.
3. Lower prices on DC/DARK HORSE/Anyone else Archive collections.
4. More high-end boutique comic shops ala ROCKETSHIP to attract new customers.
5. To see my work published this year either through self or small publisher.
*****
Dan Morris
1. More comic shops that stock not just superhero comics but alternative, manga, and heck mini comics (well at least in my neck of the woods)2. A new issue of Eightball
3. Less news and coverage about massive intercompany crossovers from DC or Marvel on internet news sites and more coverage and interviews about comics that have a shelf like of more than 12 months on internet news sites (a man can dream can't he?)
4. Better comics in my local alternative weekly (This Modern World and Bizarro just aren't cutting it anymore for me)
5. More graphic novel lines supported by major publishers like Pantheon and First Second.
*****
Chris Mautner
1. More money to buy comics with
2. More time to read said comics
3. More lovingly packaged collections of classic comic strips along the lines of the Gasoline Alley and Dennis the Menace books
4. More reasonably priced collections of Jack Kirby material (ie. Eternals, Devil Dinosaur, etc.)
5. Smarter, better comics journalism and critical thinking.
*****
Alan David Doane
1. The heads of struggling comics companies stepping up and taking responsibility for their failures instead of trying to divert the blame to the creators that made it possible for them to have a line to publish in the first place.
2. More mainstream media coverage of the comics artform.
3. More criticism, fewer reviews, both online and in print.
4. More retailer resistance to the one-distributor model.
5. More retailers that aggressively work to sell all sorts of comics to all sorts of buyers instead of being satisfied with the status quo. This is a decade of change in comics, whether you like it or not, and a savvy businessman with longterm prospects wants EVERYONE'S business.
