Read the The New Brighton Archeological Society for free
Mark Andrew Smith alerts us that The New Brighton Archeological Society, the children's adventure comic he created with artist Matthew Weldon can now be read free online. The Book One: The Castle of Galomar is being serialized with a new page being uploaded every day.
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August apocalypse: How bad?
The business news website ICv2 isn't known for being hyperbolic. So when Milton Griepp said that this month's comics sales had "plummeted" everyone leaped up, screaming, knocking over chairs and spilling drinks everywhere. Sales of comics and graphic novels through Diamond Comic Distributors dropped substantially in August with periodical comics falling 17% and graphic novels down 21%. There wasn’t a single comic title even close to the 100,000 in August. If it weren't for the continued strength of SCOTT PILGRIM trades, the GN drop would have been even more grisly. On the periodical side, there was no big book, but, said ICv2, Certainly "the lack of one big title can’t account for everything." The grim details immediately set the punditocracy to arms, perhaps sniffing the hint of burning smoke in Tom Spurgeon's Doomapocalyptigeddon which he descried from his aerie high in the Misty Mountains, the same distant smell of charring paper and brimstone that we've been picking up for the last few weeks.
Continue ReadingMarvel Month-to-Month Sales: July 2010
by Paul O'Brien The big launch for July is the new ongoing X-MEN series, which duly makes its debut at the top of the chart. Also this month, as the X-books' "Second Coming" crossover ends, the Daredevil-centred SHADOWLAND event begins. The Young Avengers return in AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE. And from the Icon imprint, there's the debut issue of Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev's SCARLET. Needless to say, Marvel were once again the top company in the direct market, leading DC by 43% to 35% in terms of unit share, and 39% to 32% in dollars.
Continue ReadingAre there comics in Cambodia? Why, yes
Wherever there are people and pens, comics seem to spring up. This long, comprehensive story on comics in Cambodia documents the emergence of a cartooning scene through the dust and haze of past political upheaval as a bunch of young folk try to make their dreams come true:
Continue ReadingWest Hollywood Book Fair features lots of comics stuff
The West Hollywood Book Fair takes place Sunday, September 26th, and as in past years will have an extensive Comics and Graphic Novels Pavilion and a full slate of programming, on topics including webcomics, YA and a spotlight on MOUSE GUARD's David Petersen, all of which you can see below:
Continue ReadingFriends of Lulu going away; Comics Are For Everyone showing up
Over on her blog, Valerie D'Orazio announces that as of January she will no longer be running Friends of Lulu, the organization formed to promote women in comics. Instead she'll be putting her efforts toward a new organization called "Comics are for Everyone."
Continue ReadingAtlas is back, debuts at NYCC
Can an old-fashioned comic book company that lasted about a year in the newsstand era find happiness in the modern world of licensing and Hollywood exploitation? That's what Stan Lee's cousin (by marriage) is counting on, with the relaunch of Atlas Comics. Atlas/Seaboard was founded by Martin Goodman, founder of the original Marvel/Atlas/Timely. After selling Marvel to the distributor Cadence, Goodman got back into the publishing game in 1974 with Atlas Comics, a short-lived but innovative outfit that offered art returns, profit sharing, and other ahead-of-their-times perks. However, it didn't last long -- by 1975, it was dead.
Continue ReadingOne self-publisher’s digital survival plan
Filipino comics artist/self-publisher Gerry Alanguilan (Elmer), was supposed to deliver an address at a symposium called "Future of the Book" but he was forced to bow out, so instead he posted his speech for all of us to read. While reading the whole thing is the best way to approach it, the gist can be conveyed. Although Alanguilan is basically married to the idea of print publishing, he thinks it can exist with digital:
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SPX 2010 memory roundup
This year's Small Press Expo was so wonderful that we can't stop reading about it! It's the first time in a while that it wasn't too cold or too hot but just right at an indie comics show we've attended and that made it special. PLUS, SVA and MICA and CCS and MCAD and SCAD have been turning out lots and lots of excellent new cartoonists and the established people are putting out great stuff and there is real excitement everywhere. There are tons of 'em, including this video made by Steven Greenstreet...we selected a few because they were interesting or especially charming.
Continue ReadingGraphic.ly and Marvel offer desktop downloads
Yet another step towards complete digital distribution as Marvel and Graphic.ly announced a deal to sell Marvel Comics via graphic-ky's desktop application. Single issues will be available via both digital download to desktop and some mobile devices, including such titles as Iron Man; Kick Ass; Amazing Spider Man; Captain America, and Astonishing X-Men. While comics have been getting establish on handheld devices, selling them via a stand-alone desktop client has been having a harder time getting off the ground; this should change that. Desktop downloads have the advantage of being readable when offline of benig able to be shared among devices.
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A Whole Lotta Shaking?
A year ago, two major events happened in the world of comics -– it was dubbed The 10 Days That Shook the World. On August 29, 2009 it was announced that Marvel was being acquired by Disney. A few short days later on September 9, DC Comics became DC Entertainment. It was also announced that Paul Levitz -– who had been at DC for some 37 years -- would be stepping down. The world held its breath to see what would happen next. There were big changes brewing at the big two. How would Disney and Warner Bros. change the face of comic book publishing as we know it?
Continue ReadingHow to post a comment on The Beat
We are still having problems where people's private emails are visible on the site. It's a very, very weird problem, evidently related to our use of Supercache to alleviate the GPU problem. We're actually in the process of moving to a new server. I tried turning off comments, but that doesn't work either. What I would recommend to people who don't want their private emails available to the next few posters is to use a dummy email for now. The way the controls are presently set, there is no technical reason to post a working email. I will of course continue to monitor comments and remove asshats, so this is not carte blanche to go nutso.
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