Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* congratulations to Tom Hart and Leela Corman on becoming new parents.

* the great R. Fiore, one of the five best writers about comics ever, takes a look at Bil Keane, a very funny and charming man.

* the writer J. Caleb Mozzocco notes that with all of its tie-ins, the once-promised-to-be-smaller event comic Siege will check in at about 37 issues. That's like $150. I don't even know what to do with that information. On the one hand, you can get the complete The Wire right now for $99. But that's not fair; that's just sort of mean, and misses the point. You can find plenty of things -- say, Bon Jovi tickets -- that likely cost more than a big stack of comics and in which I would have less interest. I guess the kindest way to look at it is if I were a fan of those kinds of comics a 37-issue series that really hit all the high points of such a story might be an amazing thing. Whether such series come close to being good 37 out of 37 times is a different issue than the conceptual one. In general economic terms, I still suspect they're playing with fire here, but 1) I'm not sure the long-game is important to anyone in a decision-making capacity at these companies right now, and 2) anyone in a position to be criticized on such issues can afford to hire Charlies Weis to drive to my house, spell out "Eat It, Spurgeon" in dozens of $100 bills on my front lawn, set that money on fire, and dance naked nearby Divine-style to the Notre Dame fight song until the flames flicker and die. At some point, it's hard to backseat drive folks that set out to make millions of dollars and then succeed in doing so, even when you feel they're playing audience Jenga.

* the difference between characters that stick in mainstream comics and those that don't.

* I don't know the Living Between Wednesday people one from the other, so I don't know the person's full name for attribution, which is sort of appropriate in that I also didn't know that the current re-telling of Superman's origin hadn't even completed yet, as we're getting word DC is going to do it again. That's just... weird. Plus it's mean and funny to show how Morrison and Quitely did the origin in one page. Brian Hibbs looks at it from a retailer's point of view, and points out the obvious antecedent: The Joker. Is it odd that when DC does stuff like this I always feel of flush of temporary shame and wish the character could just be left alone on some level? It doesn't last long, but still.

* follow the links and bookmark a very, very comprehensive submissions list.

* writers about comics Tucker Stone and Jog hang out, read gossip magazines, chase poor Sandy Olsson out onto the roof, talk funnybooks.

* Gary Groth and Kevin Huizenga and Art Spiegelman talk comics.

* I guess it makes sense that it's a big deal when google "honors" a cartoonist with imagery related in some way to their careers, but it never occurred to me there'd be giant, pr-generating and feature-article level interest.

* the writer Sean T. Collins follows up on the recent goings-on of his alt-comix sinister six.

* finally, I missed it: a rare 1908 page of Little Nemo In Wonderland was stolen from an art-restoration firm. Someone once told me about a beautiful Little Nemo original that hung in a New York antiques shop for like seven years with a $100 price tag.
 
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