Random Comics News Story Round-Up

* the Washington Times ends its Sunday comics section. Brace yourself: there's a chance we could see a bunch of this in 2010.

* this suite of photos showing superheroes -- a broad application of the term -- in historical settings is the kind of thing that people find and blog to death from six months to three years before I'm made aware of them, so apologies there. Still, I found it amusing and maybe you're like me and didn't see it, either! (thanks, Gil)

* ditto but not comics: animated stereoviews of old Japan.

* the retailer and industry blogger Chris Butcher digs into a recent announcement about Dave Sim's more recent books and their being made available through POD, dissecting what exactly that means for the Sim book and what he believes it could portend for such services. I share his general take on things.

* Mr. Fred Hembeck would like you to look at this holiday cover re-creation.

* this Kiel Phegley article with Dan DiDio on DC adjusting its co-features program -- basically their adding short features to certain titles in order to blunt fan criticism of the latest price increase -- is interesting and, well, sort of odd. DiDio's proclamation that the success of the program is that the industry didn't collapse when they raised prices is a low, low standard, and I honestly can't tell how much he's joking (I'd guess he's exaggerating for humorous effect but not minding at all if the joke is taken as a stand-in for an actual measurement of the strategy's success). For the most part, though, it's product announcement as news. I guess the exact back-up features and the make-up of their creative teams will be of interest to someone out there, but it all looks like the same corporate-driven scowly-man comics of the last 15 years to me. If they swapped out the character designs here for some of the 1997 "Tangent Universe" designs, would most comics readers be able to tell?

* Zak Sally and Jaime Hernandez converse. Jaime Hernandez is my favorite cartoonist and Sally ain't bad.

* over at Geekdad, Corinna Lawson posts a list of comics for kids over the past 10 years or so: Teen Titans Year One, Tiny Titans, Runaways, Bone, Leave It To Chance, Rocketo, Girl Genius, Owly, Jimmy Corrigan, Get Fuzzy, Pearls Before Swine, Boondocks, Iron West, Garfield Minus Garfield, The Comics Curmudgeon and The New Brighton Archeological Society. Kids love Jimmy Corrigan? Maybe it isn't a list for kids. Or maybe it's just mostly kids. I got confused with the Teen Titans kids stuff up top. Anyway, there's a list.

* Chris Staros of Top Shelf shot out an e-mail yesterday that indicated Alec: The Years Have Pants will make it into shops before the end of the year, joining Footnotes In Gaza as major, major, major books that at one time looked like they wouldn't officially, widely ship, books that ended up on 2009 store shelves after all. What a 1-2 grace note to this ten-year period in comics. I hope as many of you as possible will read and treasure both; I'd buy them for you if I could.

* Mark Evanier remembers comics for Christmas, and asks a trivia question that's about a 19.3 on a scale of ten.

* that is one adorable Walt Simonson anecdote.

* Liz Baillie misses her grandmother and if you read this comic you may, too.

* finally, the cartoonist Ed Piskor has made the first two volumes of his Wizzywig book serial available for three download. A volume three should be out next month.
 
posted 11:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

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