Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* the comics business news and analysis site ICv2.com talks a bit more about what folks can expect from the new Borders concept stores, and where they can expect to find them. They seem to agree with me that the thing worth noting here is that comics are still perceived as a strong category, perhaps even as a growth category, and thus perceived as something that should be at the center of such a new effort.

* this is probably the best profile to appear this week: the unapologetically pro-Right Mexican-American cartoonist Francisco "Paco" Calderon, complete with video.

* Ian Brill writes about X-Men comics as a kind of alternate, safer cosmology in a piece that looks like it may be continued somewhere.

* for those desiring to work in comics: Disney Publishing World is looking for a designer with experience in comics, while both Viz Media and Tokyopop seem to have entry-level positions available as well.

* the industry bible Editor & Publisher notes the decision by Nicholas Gurewitch to end The Perry Bible Fellowship as a weekly strip. Tony Millionaire comments on comics' recent quitters.

* although an attentive comics fan might quibble with a detail or two in this argument for the social significance of Steve Gerber's work -- for instance, Gerber did own a handful of his creations, those done for small publishers and publishing lines with shared-ownership agreements -- treating people like Gerber for the serious artists they were is always a welcome thing. Mark Evanier posts about a small gathering in Burbank consisting of friends and fans of the late writer.

* the Albuquerque Journal, one of fewer than 700 afternoon dailies still operating in the US will close this Saturday. This is important to note because as two-newspaper towns become one-newspaper towns, this changes the competitive landscape for both editorial cartoons and syndicate strips.

* articles like this soft profile of DC Comics' on-line comics effort Zuda tend to end up being weird because the project ends up being portrayed as if it's starting a trend rather than riding one by simple virtue of being the object of the profile.

* sometimes you read a link and you know it's going to be posted in a lot of places whether you decide to pick it up or not: such is the case with the Dilbert strip turning its narrative attention to the recent situation whereby an office worker was apparently fired for putting up Dilbert cartoons.

* inexact measures, their charts, and analysis telling us what they might maybe sort of potentially mean aren't limited to print comics.

* not comics: these posts by Paul Bradshaw about the basics of on-line journalism will eventually be the spine of a book.

* in what's turned out to be sort of an Editor & Publisher day, they take a close look at the Newark Star-Ledger's decision to go from eight pages of Sunday Comics to six, which they were able to do by dropping one comic and shrinking the whole bunch. Shrunken Prince Valiant is almost always a bad idea. They also note that Jump Start is the only strip in the paper by a cartoonist of color despite Newark's demographics. I would add that the decision to go to a smaller comics section is also worth noting simply as a trend story, and that in this case extra attention might be paid because the Newark is one of those half-dozen markets that seems to pay a lot of attention to its newspaper comics.
 
posted 8:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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