Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* the retailer and blogger Chris Butcher reminds us that publishers are still struggling to come to terms with the implications of Diamond's new minimums policy.

* so instead of issuing headphones at the MOMEntum comics art show, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design supplies attendees with a delightful talking baby soaked in recent comics history. Eric Reynolds provides a photo-stuffed travelogue of his recent trip to one of America's best comics cities.

* the publisher and webcomics advocate Joey Manley suggests that sometimes webcomics folks find themselves a poor match with a mainstream publisher.

* not comics: Marvel retooled its movie schedule and made a couple of cast announcements for Iron Man 2 yesterday, which is funny in a "screw you" kind of way in that it fairly knocked any chatter about Watchmen right off the nerd radar for a news cycle. I thought the Watchmen movie folks did a great job of spinning box office and review news early in the week, so we'll see if the film performs solidly in its second week or if the percentage revenue loss is in the 50 to 75 percent range (I'm guessing that's the uh-oh range). I'm sort of surprised there hasn't been more made of this kind of thing in order to make the film more alluring to teens, but I know as much about getting people to watch movies as I know about winning the Dakar Rally.

* speaking of movies, every time the first thing I see is the word "loading" I get nervous, but apparently this is a bunch of comics depicting "lost scenes" from various film classics. I always thought something like that would make a good Eros comic.

* finally, some con news: four-day memberships are nearly sold out of this year's comics and pop culture event Comic-Con International. I've long thought that show may be just as enjoyable experienced in part rather than in its entirety, so I don't find this news alarming, but most people obviously still see it as a big ol' summer camp experience and may be hitting that site today to slip in under the wire and god bless you if you're one of those folks. Following a solid New York Comic-Con and an even more solid WonderCon months after economic fears settled in, I think it's safe to say that conventions for now have not been harmed by the current economic weaknesses. I'm not sure of the exact reason. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say a combination of cons being peak experiences worth saving up to do and the fact that their big-tent nature provides entertainment value, especially for locals. But it could be any number of things. Steven Grant makes a nice point here that the state of the Direct Market of hobby and comics shops may be as such that conventions have become, once again, the best way to buy comics because you get to look at them first.
 
posted 7:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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