Borders struggles to readjust

Earlier this week the Borders bookstore chain announced its earnings for the quarter ending July 31 and the results were weak, as expected. Sales fell 11.5%, to $526.1 million, with a $51.6 million loss.

SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE preview

DC has released a few pages of SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE the much-anticipated Superman reboot graphic novel by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis. The book goes on sales next month.

“Garbage Truck” by Sex Bob-Omb

Call me crazy but I still love this. Music by Beck Hansen.

SANDMAN in development as a TV show

Set your tivo for the Dream King! After years of limbo for a proposed Sandman movie, the hugely popular Neil Gaiman fantasy comics series is now in development as a TV series, THR reports. Warners is trying to get the property going, with SUPERNATURAL producer Eric Kripke, on the short list to develop.

Stumptown 2011 Announces Dates and bigger venue

Kibbles ‘n’ Bits 9/2/10

From the past to the future with Brian Wood, Hope Larson, Brian HIbbs and so on, true believers,

Mark Waid: What he meant to say about the digital reality

Mark Waid has reconstructed his controversial Harvey night speech and made what he was getting at much clearer: “Yes, Professor Waid, you hippie freak, sharing is all well and good, but how does that pay my bills?”

Pekar legacy under dispute

When Harvey Pekar died on July 12th, he was revealed in death to be a figure more influential and revered than he would ever have dared hope in life. He left a literary legacy as well as a wealth of projects in the pipeline. And he also left some awkwardness, as Dave Itzkoff in the [...]

Walking Dead #80 teaser: NO WAY OUT

Via Image.

Download this: The Imp by Daniel Raeburn

Daniel Raeburn has made the entire four-issue run of his 1997-2002 fanzine The Imp available for PDF download. Single topic issues on Dan Clowes, Jack Chick, Chris Ware and Mexican historietas generally defined the direction of all future scholarship on such topics and this is one of the finest and most influential bits of comics scholarship/criticism of the last 20 years. So go download for your iPad or whatever.

Briefs & Boxers! 09/01/10

In his “Emanata” column at Techland, Douglas Wolk looks at the promotional efforts for an upcoming Marvel story by Jonathan Hickman, singling out Fantastic Four as a series that particularly finds itself in the shadow of its creators: “As Lee and Kirby established the FF, their premises are inflexible: they're a family. They're explorers. They have adventures together. […] If you stick to those axioms, you're not just making a Fantastic Four story, you're making one in the Lee/Kirby tradition […]. If you ignore any of those axioms, then it's not really the Fantastic Four any more, and the question becomes how, and how quickly, it's going to get back to being the ‘real’ Fantastic Four.”

Only you can make Jim Woodring’s giant steel pen dreams come true!

The great fantasist/cartoonist Jim Woodring has only raised 49 percent of the $4500 he needs to construct a Giant Steel Dip Pen and Penholder which he will use to demonstrate art, cure cancer, open a portal to Vhoori, save Social Security and make kittens fly out of rainbows. In this dimension, Woodring's plans for the giant pen are equally noble:

ICv2 Digital Comics Conference announced for New York Comic-Con

Everyone’s talking digital comics, and they’re going to get a thorough investigation in October as part of a one-day ICv2 Comics & Digital Conference, to be held Thursday, October 7, right before this year’s New York Comic-Con. In previous years, ICv2 has sponsored graphic novel conferences before NYCC and also put on a Transmedia conference [...]

Diamond introduces street dates for Wednesday on-sale

Following lengthy discussion and behind-the-scenes debate, Diamond has announced that street dates are available for all retailers now: comics will be shipped Tuesday for a Wednesday on-sale. A $5-a-week charge for retailers who opt in will go towards a "mystery shopper" program to make sure street dates aren't broken. Stores who don't want to participate can stick with Wednesday delivery. We'll have more on this story with industry reactions in today's PW Comics Week. PR below.

True Blood Recap: Harsh Daylight Shines on an Unanchored Plot

After a couple of basically strong episodes, the Fresh Blood just didn’t congeal this week.  The gestalt was off.  True Blood’s chi is out of whack, and, quite frankly, people, it didn’t leave me anxiously awaiting the finale.  Many of the scenes were good on their own but just as many felt awkward and immaterial, leaving the whole episode lacking in narrative center.  Take the opening scene: Bill’s blood bond to Sookie leads him to Fangtasia where he has a fun little run in with Pam.  Starting off with a fight scene between two distinct characters that rub each other the wrong way and don’t interact often was nice.  Particularly when Pam mocks Bill’s pretense of being in a normal, monogamous relationship with Sookie then outfoxes the stronger, older vampire by spraying silver flecked water in his eyes.