Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* hey, maybe someone at Wizard can explain this to me. If Jim Silver's role at Wizard "is the same as it has been," as Gareb Shamus told ICv2.com, countering a ton of whispers that Silver's role had definitely changed, how come he's not in the masthead of Wizard #198 as having that same role?

* the great Metabunker site has the cartoons up that a man claims were made by Adolf Hitler. This story just went from being "intriguing yet not likely" to "no freakin' way."

* the NYT critic and journalist Steven Heller reviews a couple of comics-related books as part of a suite of works that are linked by their being "visual" in nature, the kind of thing that makes a certain sense even though I can't remember seeing it before.

* missed it: Marc-Oliver Frisch wrote in with what he suspects is a glitch in January's Diamond-released sales figures.

* we've added a advertisement to the right-hand column hoping to draw your attention and traffic to the sale of the late Dave Cockrum's personal collection, where you can find items on sale like his personal copy of industry milestone Giant-Size X-Men #1 -- although in the case of that comic it's apparently already gone. If you have the time, and especially if you have the inclination, I'd greatly appreciate your considering a click through at some point to see what else is there.

* here's an article about Sprint with a Kyle Baker comic/cartoon up top.

* this profile of Gene Yang provides a snapshot of his forthcoming projects, including a book about the Boxer Rebellion.

* this article seems to claim that the recent enforcement of child pornography laws in Japan hasn't, and perhaps shouldn't, have an impact on manga.

* in the I didn't know that department, Peter Wong writes in with a note about the great Ralph Steadman. "For its February 22, 2008 issue, The Week magazine asked cartoonist Ralph Steadman to list the best books he's ever read. The Hunter S. Thompson collaborator listed the following: The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac, Rembrandt's Jews by Steven Nadler, Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers and Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein."

* also missed it: the launch of retail/social networking site Heavy Ink.

* here's a long piece on how Barack Obama's presidential campaign puts one writer in the mind of Eagle: The Making of An Asian-American President.

* does reading Preacher on the subway make you a dork?

* there are two more big pieces out there on retailer Brian Hibbs' analysis of Bookscan numbers, from Heidi MacDonald and Dirk Deppey. Andrew Wheeler backs me up on why I've been dismissing the whole argument as one even worth arguing in the first damn place -- you can't manipulate numbers to good effect when they vary wildly book to book.

One of the many crappy things about plunging ahead and arguing these figures anyway is the constant risk of distortion. MacDonald gives a figure for Adrian Tomine's sales on Shortcomings straight from Bookscan. This isn't fair to that book. 1) This figure could all by itself be off by a multiple of three. Three! 2) Shortcomings came out late in the year, and it's clear from the number of brand-new reviews that it's still in a primary sales cycle. This makes perfect sense given the crowded graphic novel book shelves and the size of the publisher -- neither D&Q nor its distributor FSG is going to be able to flood the stands with copies; its sales are likely to be slow and steady. But instead this figure is utilized and therefore gains momentum and credibility as "the sales figure" on Shortcomings.

I urge you to join me in giving manipulation of individual Bookscan numbers the finger and only trusting Bookscan the way we trust Diamond sales estimates -- as a broader than broad indicator of market trends and check on extravagant publisher claims, both roles coming with multiple caveats.
 
posted 8:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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