Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* here's a piece about the state of the graphic novel in Israel.

* the publisher Jonathan Cape is gearing up for another round in its comics short-story contest. Remember to read all the rules before deciding whether or not to participate.

* the Palm Beach Post discusses the retirement of its cartooning legend, Don Wright.

* the PW comics and pop culture blogger Heidi MacDonald has more 1974 comic book convention photos. The initial impressions are fairly easy to make: more women than you'd guess, fewer fatties, nobody in costume. I'm fascinated by the guy in the photo accompanying this slugged point: something about a grown man in a suit coat with a cane casually hooked over his arm while reading a comic book screams "different era" louder than all of the young, long-haired men in the other pictures combined.

* a few readers were were surprised to see a Francoise Mouly coloring credit on an old Claremont/Byrne X-Men spread linked to yesterday, although Mouly's freelance work at the House of Ideas occasionally crops up in profiles and biographies. Here are a few of her efforts for your Mike Mine Mouly collecting efforts.

* I don't agree with Kevin Church that a store owner reviewing new comics in a negative fashion is a fanboy impulse or even necessarily a bad thing, but I understand both arguments.

* Noah Berlatsky wonders out loud why they aren't overtly directing people to related Batman comic books in advertising that comes with Dark Knight. I don't know that I've ever seen that kind of targeted marketing in movie commercials, and I wonder if it would work. I have seen plenty of Batman-related presentations in the big box stores, although it's true that they have a variety of products to push such as kids' books and the Greenberger encyclopedia as opposed to focusing on the graphic novels closest to the movie. I would imagine that the success they've had with selling Watchmen will make them consider a focused strategy on future film projects when it comes to promoting related books.

* the thing that occurred to me after seeing the movie -- well, after AIIEE! My Eyes! when I stepped out into the sun -- is that you'd think from the comics end there would have been a follow-up to Year One that extended that work's appealing ground-level and straight-forward crime-oriented Batman into a Batman vs. Joker story or something similar. That makes perfect sense. As I recall, the actual sequel to Year One was a lot more continuity-conscious, the superheroics a lot more standard, and it featured some goofy-looking guy whose name I can't even remember that kind of looked like a Antonio Prohias design. (Please don't e-mail me the name.)

* folks keep e-mailing me this general survey of the manga publishing landscape

* I expect we'll see more announcements like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution saying that they're dropping For Better or For Worse after the new storylines end on August 31st.

* the cartoonist Scott Kurtz talks about the critic-cartoonist relationship and suggests it doesn't exist. I think I'd agree with Kurtz on the principles fueling this one, although I'd likely disagree with the tone and make-up of the argument that gets each of us there. Here's a discussion thread and commentary about the subject.

* not comics: due to a change the Television Critics Association press tour, Comic-Con International may become even more important to TV writers next summer.

* finally, Matt Fraction dreams...
 
posted 7:30 am PST | Permalink
 

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