Major and Semi-Major News Stories On Which I’ve Recently Completely Whiffed

Here are some thoughts on a number of not-insignificant news stories I simply haven't covered well -- if at all -- in the last two weeks.

* Eric Stephenson replaces Erik Larsen as the publisher of Image Comics. The long-time Image fixture Stephenson seems well-liked, particularly by the company's major talents for whom he labored on the initial marketing efforts for their books. He is not only the obvious choice but the best choice for the job.

Image is an odd company right now. While Jim Valentino's turn as publisher resulted in a significant influx of titles and talent and now seems the only obvious reaction to the departure of significant founding partners like Jim Lee and a reduced rate of production from other Image folks, Larsen seemed to reduce the number of second-rate comics in that surge and brought attention to growing hits like Walking Dead, partly through his name as a creator and more established fan identity as a core Image creator. Stephenson gets to refine the Larsen model, I'd think, and with the media rights landscape what it is -- a cross between scary minefield of abusive contracts and seedy old men waiting outside the Port Authority bus station to intercept the new arrivals from Oklahoma City -- their hands-off contract template is going to have a lot of appeal for a certain kind of creator for years to come.

* Dynamite Comics is doing a North American Judge Dredd series in 2009, and may do series with other 2000 AD characters. Attempts to do anything stateside with the 2000 AD characters or their comics have always been doomed to failure because of the difficulties in translating the material. For one thing, Judge Dredd is generally more a satire about a lunatic bad guy as opposed to a heroic story about an extremely violent or flawed good guy. And yet this sounds like it might work 1) if the creators are smartly selected (having Garth Ennis and John Wagner in an advisory or creative oversight capacity sounds like a good start) and 2) if you reduce expectation in terms of what would make such an effort a success for Dynamite over the level as opposed to what a company like DC Comics would need the material to do.

* Rights Farm Platinum is apparently in negotiations to buy the Wowio service, which leads to an almost synaptic collapse when one considers the issues involved. It could mean that Platinum's recent move not to pay some people was their saving up money to facilitate this deal. It could mean that Platinum is going to wholly substitute the kind of digital service provided by Wowio for intermittent paper publishing, which makes total sense. It could mean a complete bolt from Wowio by its already-established partners wary of the part of Platinum's overall publishing philosophy that wants to seize the properties with which it works for sale to Hollywood. It could mean another round of financing for Scott Rosenberg's company is in place. It could mean that Wowio is strangely cash-poor despite the money made for its creative partners. It could mean a lot of things, and I'm not sure we can tell just what, not yet.

* Ted Rall has become president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, taking over for Nick Anderson. The group has an interesting way of phasing in officers through a long position-elect process. Rex Babin, the current vice-president, will be the next president, and votes on other positions will take place a bit later this year. The AAEC has shifted into more of a positive advocacy role over the last few years primarily through a surge in alt-cartoonist and younger members spearheaded by Rall. It should be interesting to see what happens here, particularly as newspapers face even more severe cuts the longer economic tough times last. It could be that the AAEC has a lot to offer in specific advocacy strategies, but it could also be a case where it's the shift in attitude that's the important one rather than any program or set of programs Rall will introduce.

* Jeff Trexler debunks the rumor that the Superboy settlement process is over, but points to several signs that indicate things may be moving in that direction.
 
posted 8:10 am PST | Permalink
 

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