January 31, 2018
Go, Look: Angela Chen
posted 11:00 pm PST |
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ReedPOP: DBD’s Longtime Executive Kuo-Yu Liang Joins Team As Global Director Of Business Development
Kuo-Yu Liang, the longtime Diamond Comic Distributors working on the books end of the business most recently as Vice President International Sales and Business Development at Diamond Comic Distributors, has joined ReedPOP as their Global Director of Business Development according to an announcement made by Lance Fensterman, the company's Global Head. Liang will headquarter in Seattle and work on growing the ReedPOP business model with a focus on Asia. The group currently has nine shows in "China, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and India."
Liang I believe started with Random House but was a hugely important hire for Diamond to settle and legitimize their ability to serve as a book distributor when a number of traditional prose distributors were starting to snap up comics publishers. He is credited with finding significant growth for Diamond in international markets.
The announcement is here:
Kuo-Yu_Liang_Press_Release.pdf
A letter sent out by DBD this morning indicated no concrete replacement strategy while bidding farewell to Liang and underlining the continued importance of the international marketplace for Diamond.
posted 10:55 pm PST |
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Go, Look: Fostering Isn’t Perfect, But It’s For Us
posted 10:00 pm PST |
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Go, Look: Arlington Is More Than A Cemetery
posted 3:30 pm PST |
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The Never-Ending, Four-Color Festival: Shows And Events
By Tom Spurgeon
*
exhibitor applications for BellCAF are open. That show is March 31.
*
FIBD has carved out its traditional place on the January 2019 calendar.
*
the artist Tom Williams sent word that PIX has canceled for 2018 but plans to do 2019. I think there's room for a Toonseum-oriented comics show in Pittsburgh; they just haven't found exactly the right formula yet. The 2017 show seemed like a sturdy model on which to build, so I hope they're back next year.
* many of my friends are oriented towards
ECCC at this point, which is still some ways off.
*
here's a report from DC's event in Washington, DC over MLK Jr. weekend. I think it's a potentially important variation on the festival/convention event, one that could serve a variety of purposes for these companies.
* finally, the great John Porcellino
has announced 2018 tour dates for his new book,
From Lone Mountain.
posted 3:25 pm PST |
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If I Were In Portland, I’d Go To This
posted 3:20 pm PST |
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Go, Look: A Few Dan Dunn Sunday Pages
posted 3:10 pm PST |
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Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* Sean Gaffney on
RWBY. Meredith Harris and Kyle Thompson on
various comics.
* not comics:
this is a super-adorable story about Garry Trudeau that I don't think I was aware existed.
* Debkumar Mitra profiles
Chandi Lahiri.
*
here's a brief profile of Charles Johnson in advance of a speaking date. He's one of my favorite cartoon-makers not primarily a cartoon-maker.
* saw Nate Beeler, Ann Telnaes and Mr. Fish speak
at a luncheon in Columbus yesterday and had a great time. if you get to see either out in support of their new books, make some time to go. I'd never seen Mr. Fish before, and he was super-enagaging and articulate. Both Telnaes and Mr. Fish are cartoonists of the moment for their work on Trump; I think they're both doing the work right now for which they'll be most remembered. I know Telnaes is working her way through signings on the west coast south to north soon.
* finally:
Brian Walker remembers his father.
posted 3:05 pm PST |
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January 30, 2018
Go, Look: No Longer Ours
posted 11:00 pm PST |
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Go, Look: GigiCave At DeviantArt
posted 10:00 pm PST |
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Go, Look: Cut Out
posted 3:30 pm PST |
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This Isn’t A Library: New, Notable Releases Into The Direct Market
*****
Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.
I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.
*****
OCT171595 BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO GN US REBELS MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR $22.99
I have no idea what this is, but that's fascinating subject matter for any kin of comics exploration -- the mid-19th Century in Mexico could sustain entire careers, and sort of has. It looks super pretty, too. I want to hold it.
SEP170068 MATT WAGNER GRENDEL TALES OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 $24.99
One of the artists I read early on in my transformation from spinner-rack to comic book store, Matt Wagner's work is enjoyable to me on some level nearly every time out and I will always look at new editions.
NOV171667 WEIRD WORLD OF LAGOOLA GARDNER $10.00
OCT171720 KAIJUMAX SEASON 3 #6 (MR) $3.99
OCT170388 ASTRO CITY #50 $3.99
Comics! The one up top is Zach Worton doing a 40-pager at Fantagraphics, which I'm dying to see. I had a hard time searching for that one, for whatever reason. Fantagraphics search the name of the book, not the author. Hopefully your store has one and you can see it up close and personal. Looks like Zander Cannon has finished another season of his sprawling examination of... well, monsters, from various origin points. Congratulations to the
Astro City team as they finish up a few more issues before switching to stand-alones. That's been a fruitful serial comic book run.
NOV170523 RICHARD STARKS PARKER SLAYGROUND TP $14.99
I'm guessing this is the softcover version of the last of the late Darwyn Cooke's Parker series book with IDW. I liked this one, stripped down and very little fuss and with a forced grimy quality that really wasn't Cooke's natural inclination.
OCT171597 COMPLETE CREPAX HC BOX SET VOL 01-02 DRACULA & TIME EATER (M $150.00
OCT171600 COMPLETE CREPAX HC EVIL SPELLS (MR) $75.00
JUL171898 COMPLETE PEANUTS BOX SET 1963-1966 $39.99
I don't know who buys box sets of Crepax and Schulz, but I suspect they have more money than I do to spend on comics. I want both of these works in my library at some point -- pretty sure I have the Schulz already. I've learned a lot the last couple of year reading about and looking at the results of this resurgence of interest in Crepax.
SEP170550 STEVE CANYON HC VOL 08 1961-1962 $49.99
OCT171596 PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 16 1967-1968 $34.99
Two beautiful series. I thought
Valiant was about ten years behind the late 1960s, but I'll follow it all the way to the end no matter where they are. I'm happy to have beautiful versions of both of these works while there's enough of an audience left out there to buy the actual books.
OCT171591 DREW FRIEDMAN`S CHOSEN PEOPLE HC $19.99
I thought this had been art for a while, but if this is the new Friedman, it's a good one. They went small with the printing, it's hand-held, which is an interesting way to appreciate what Friedman does as a whole presentation.
OCT171589 SPARRING GIL KANE SC DEBATING HISTORY AESTHETICS COMICS $22.99
This is the long-promised book featuring Gary Groth's talks with is best friend the late artist Gil Kane about a variety of issues related to art-making in comics. The generational differences are important and cutting.
DEC171601 IS THIS GUY FOR REAL GN $19.99
Hey, it's Box Brown's Andy Kaufman biography. Those are always engaging and Kaufman is of perennial interest to just about anyone that pays attention to modern pop culture.
*****
The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics,
can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.
To find your local comic book store,
check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back,
try this.
The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.
If I failed to list your comic, that's because I hate you.
*****
*****
*****
posted 3:25 pm PST |
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If I Were In Columbus, I’d Go To This
posted 3:20 pm PST |
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Go, Look: Young Love #18
posted 3:10 pm PST |
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Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* Todd Klein on
The Flash #25.
*
here's a long blog post about how shots are framed on the
Detectorists show, suggesting that comics pages can learn from some of the techniques used. It's like they're making posts just for me.
* not comics:
hey, my favorite book from when I was 15 years old is on-line for free now.
* Noah Van Sciver draws the late
Ursula Le Guin.
* apparently at the AAEC
they had to break a board of directors tie with a coin flip. I think that's how I got the
TCJ job, so I'm not throwing stones. Broadcast journalist and cartoonist and great friend to comics Jake Tapper dif the flipping.
* finally: that's
a killer-looking Howlin' Wolf.
posted 3:05 pm PST |
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January 29, 2018
Go, Listen: Scott McCloud At 99% Invisible
posted 11:00 pm PST |
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Go, Read: Rob Salkowitz On Turning Casual Fans Into Hardcore Readers
I enjoyed industry analyst Rob Salkowitz's threading of the needle
here on the old casual fans vs. hardcore readers dilemma that conventional wisdom would have us believe is at the heart of many mainstream sales issues. It's a clever article.
I imagine there are characters in the libraries of these publishing houses that could be put to more effective use, no matter how you determine ideal readerships. Second-guessing big-time publishing strategies is one of the individual sports in the nerd decathlon for a reason.
One thing I would wonder after, though, is if the greater context is so different than it was in the '70s or even early '00s. Periods of relative stability with their best-selling titles have in the past allowed companies like Marvel to tear down narratives in less popular titles in a way that made some of their comics very exciting for that break with formula. When those time periods overlapped with new elements being added to mainstream comics expression more generally (violence in '70s, sex in the early '00s), new readers became not just intrigued but hooked.
These days everything's been broken, set and healed multiple times. Each and every title has to get out and push the company car over the profitability line four times a year. If we're in a wider moment I'm not sure what it is... politics, maybe? It's hard to manufacture what used to come out of left field, doubly so without allowing room for that step back on the way to three steps forward. Metaphors that may make sense when standing alone in a sentence or along the rack of a comic shop may simply be confusing lined up one after the other in paragraph form or, let's face it, taking up the whole wall of your favorite store.
I am deeply sorry.
posted 10:25 pm PST |
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Go, Read: Steve Lieber On Instructional Books
posted 10:00 pm PST |
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Sunday Was The Last Night Of Business For Zanadu Comics In Seattle’s Belltown After 42 Years Open
There's a pretty standard small-business obit for the downtown location of Zanadu Comics
here, stating the shop has been open in that neighborhood for 42 years. My generation of Seattle young people was a bit more familiar with the University District location, long gone.
All the standard reasons for the store's closure are listed except maybe higher rents. It was always in kind of an odd location, not really near anything else people might head downtown to do. Even at a time in my life I went into every comic shop I came within a quarter mile of standing face to face, I only ever got down to that specific location a half-dozen times a year. It was less a place to keep up on that week's books than to maybe find a hidden pile of
Wash Tubbs books. It sounds like they serve an audience of mostly neighborhood folks, long since displaced.
CR readers might recall the shop tried a crowd-funding campaign that failed to find momentum. Owner Perry Plush will continue to sell some comics on-line.
There's a lot of evidence that a significant percentage of single-store shoppers give up on comics altogether when their store of choice folds. I hope that isn't as true this time out. Best of luck to Mr. Plush and any current employees. There is nothing like walking into a comic book store. Zanadu, RIP.
posted 9:55 pm PST |
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Go, Read: Gus Bofa Profiled
posted 3:30 pm PST |
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Bundled, Tossed, Untied And Stacked: Publishing News
By Tom Spurgeon
*
here's a profile of the comic books
Abbott, a supernatural thriller which I missed word about and features the writer Saladin Ahmed working with artist Sami Kivelä. Ahmed's collaboration with artist Christian Ward on Marvel on the Black Bolt character was extremely well-received, a not-inconsiderable achievement given the Kirby/Lee Inhumans material has been hit and miss for Marvel the last several years.
* Birdcage Bottom Books
is currently attempting to crowd-fund its 2018 season. That makes it a crowd-funding story
and a publishing story, especially when I forgot to do the publishing story half.
* Steve Foxe
talks to Jarrett Krosoczka and reveals the cover to the cartoonist's autobiographical
Hey, Kiddo.
*
here's an open call for submissions to the RSM anthology. That should run another couple of weeks. I don't have the time to vet every call for submissions, but obviously I won't post one about which I've heard anything dubious. As in all things comics, just be your usual careful.
* not comics:
Fred Van Lente joins Robert Rodi as writers of comics that have written a murder mystery with a comic-con backdrop.
* finally:
more Kane from Paul Grist is good news.
posted 3:25 pm PST |
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Go, Read: Little Dot As Pioneer Of Today’s Avant-Garde
posted 3:20 pm PST |
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Go, Look: Sal Buscema Cover Images Gallery
posted 3:10 pm PST |
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Random Comics News Story Round-Up
* John Seven on
Something City.
* not comics: hard for me to imagine a more trenchant news story right now
than trying to come up with a model for papers owned by big media to be returned to local ownership. The papers in question do carry comics, if that's important to hear before reading.
* by request extra: Meredith Gran's game project
Perfect Tides is available to be crowd-funded. Looks fun. It's certainly one of the more interesting answers to how you follow a life-defining project like Gran's
Octopus Pie webcomic.
* finally: I enjoyed
Caleb Orecchio's meditation on imagery that's maybe not compelling or excellent art that still burrows its way into your mind.
posted 3:05 pm PST |
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Go, Look: Mort Walker Posts At The Fabuleous Fifties
Site runner Ger Apeldoorn was a big fan of Mort Walker's work, and has for years posted material from across the breadth of the late cartoonist's career.
posted 12:00 am PST |
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