Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* the writer Michael Dooley interviews the cartoonist and designer Rian Hughes.

* go, bookmark: Smith Magazine launches Next-Door Neighbor Webcomix, curated by Dean Haspiel.

* yet another discussion on how to fix the comic book Direct Market of comic book and hobby shops. Most of these discussions tend to be vague and unrealistic, full of "they need to do this" solutions which could only happen with the application of resources far beyond such shops, individually and collectively. One reason for the disconnect between reality and potential reality, I think, is that in metaphorical terms the DM isn't broken and in need of fixing as much it is unhealthy and in need of healing. Even then, there are some entities for whom the current DM set-up works very, very well.

Improving the Direct Market becomes problematic in that there's likely no immediate, perceivable gain in correcting a lot of the harmful behavior. To look at one potential strategy of many, I'm of the mind that in the long run the DM would be healthier if the big publishers didn't flood and then starve the market from week to week by piling on certain releases in certain weeks and then not having any of that kind of release in other weeks. What I mean is that if there are 14 X-Men titles, there are weeks when 11 of those books come out and then weeks when one comes out. This has happened for years and years. While it's hard to prove this has an impact on sales, or to quantify said impact, it's inconceivable that a smarter, more balanced release schedule wouldn't allow retailers the chance to better sell those titles to their respective fans at the moment of initial publication. At the same time, some of the worst categories in terms of this abuse sell very well, and a loose publishing schedule allows all sorts of breathing room in the process at both the publishing and distribution levels that's probably a lot easier for industry folks to qualify, at least on an anecdotal basis. It's a tough situation.

* the writer Ed Brubaker is answering questions at Warren Chapel's Whitechapel forum.

* manga publishing power Viz Media announces a distribution deal for UK and Ireland. This is the kind of story I swear I've seen five times in six months.

* pals Marc Mason and Matt Maxwell talk about Maxwell's Strangeways effort.

* this has to be most dreary way to always look at the world. I hadn't once thought of Ramirez' political affiliation when reading about his Pulitzer win; he just seems to me a fine, effective cartoonist.

* the critic Jeet Heer notes a conversation/argument he's having with with Michael Chabon.

* the writer Ian Brill has the same question about Marvel's viral marketing efforts that I do: how should the fact that they're using these to push an almost guaranteed publishing hit change our perception of the strategy's effectiveness. I think this kind of question is important in that a lot of the coverage of marketing efforts that's out there seems to think that recognizing some instance of innovation or celebrating a certain kind of placement is news in and of itself.
 
posted 7:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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