Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* this is one of those days where you just sit back and marvel at the increased comics news and commentary presence on-line. If there had been this much stuff worth noting on a regular basis back in 2004, I would have gone with my original plan and blogged weird news items from my hometown. They're good links, too. There are items in the Quick Hits section today that could go at the top of the blog in terms of interest and skill of execution; they're not up there because I just don't have anything to say about those individual stories.

* for instance, here's a standalone post-worthy profile of Art Spiegelman from La Monde. One thing I didn't know at all that he talks about is that Maus had publishing problems in Israel, and that only the first volume was released there.

* check out Chris Butcher's massive dissection of the first issue of PiQ, and Johanna Draper Carlson solicits opinions from her readers. What lesson you take from these articles -- that there's a hunger for a magazine like this that really hits with the readers, or a magazine will always have a tough time appealing to readers so passionately interested in the subject matter -- is up to you.

* the well-connected and well-respected manga industry figure Dallas Middaugh looks at Brian Wood's pre-SPLAT! suggestions for how to break into comics and comments. Speaking of breaking into comics, here's a rare job posting.

* one of the oddest stories of the last half-year or so has been rumblings of the massive, mostly hidden from view turnover -- primarily in the editorial and related creative departments -- of Wizard Entertainment, and an industry of list and private e-mail chat that's sprung up to discuss the company's latest moves. Rumors hit this week that at least a few staff adjustments continue to take place, which if true is worth noting for how long it's been going on now. Rumors are rumors, and should be treated as such, and I don't have enough to publish the names I have. At the same time, I don't think the company has established enough of a trustworthy line of commentary on whatever changes are happening to grant them the right to keep stuff completely off the radar by staying mum or spinning. I mean, I'd still love someone to explain how one prominent employee could remain in their same role at the company as publicly trumpeted and be moved from the masthead of the flagship magazine.

* the long-time editor Diana Schutz joins Jeff Smith's roundtable of guest-blogging on the 1990s self-publishing movement.

* Bill Randall with more on the most important story in comics history.

* the deadline for Harveys nomination is upon us all. It takes more effort to do a Harveys nomination ballot than nearly every other thing asked of comics voters, but because of that a single ballot has a lot more weight.

* here's a nice not-comics post from Ron Hogan on the good news about the book publishing business in January and Border's face-out policy, both worth noting if you hadn't yet.

* while we're on wider issues, Bob Andelman interviews the Knight Foundation's Alberto Ibarguen about the hard-to-see future of the newspaper business.

* you know, as much shit as has been flung in Jason Lutes' direction for the... well... haphazard publishing schedule he's employed with the serialized Berlin, I hope people are taking notice now that he's knocking the issues out like it's 1983.

* the notion that manga readers might grow older and away from their reading material, or at least to another kind of reading material, was originally introduced into the wider comics discussion by snotty superhero fans who seemed to be having a hard time digesting the massive success of several manga properties during the initial massive growth phase, so it was easy to dismiss it as wishful thinking by people whose egos were oddly tied to the marketplace dominance and cultural viability of men in capes. This article may help reintroduce that issue in a more useful way.

* the good news is that longtime writer about comics Steve Ringgenberg has an on-line presence. The bad news is that it keeps locking up my browser. I'm telling you that so you can protect yourself, not so you won't try it. I live three hours from an airport, and my Internet connection isn't as strong as most people's.

* the retailer and super-blogger Mike Sterling writes a bit more on his trip to last weekend's Wizard World LA and brings the links. Heidi MacDonald and Gary Tyrrell write on that same weekend's SPLAT!

* don't miss Matt Maxwell's ginormous post on the whole WWLA affair. I love posts like this. Matt, "so huge it bends gravity around it" is more than an acceptable excuse to break a single post into component parts, I promise.

* this made me laugh.

* these two articles make me think it would be really handy to have a bit more context to draw on in terms of manga and manga-related publishing news.

* finally, you won't read anything today that's more entertaining than Paul Karasik's interview-style beatdown of the new remake of Fletcher Hanks' work in that Image Comics public domain anthology. Karasik of course was the editor on the I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets Hanks reprint project.
 
posted 9:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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