DC tops Marvel in September; comics sales up 10%; graphic novels plunge
DC beat Marvel in September...but not by the crushing margin you might have expected. DC was up a mere .4 in dollars and more commanding 5 points in units. But it was a clean victory nonetheless, with DC taking all 5 top comics, 8 out of 10 in the top ten, and 32 of the top 50 comics. Only three Marvel titles made the top 20 and 6 the top 25. In the comparative stats, comics sales were up 10% in dollars and 13% in units -- hence all those happy retailers -- while graphic novel sales plunged nearly 14% and 13% from last month and a spectacular 18% and 23% from last year. Graphic novel sales are down 10% year to date -- while everyone is crowing about the resurgent periodical sales, this is a worrying trend, BATMAN and ACTION led the DC comics sales, while HOLY TERROR was the #1 graphic novel.
Continue ReadingNice Art: Amanda Conner and Jan Duursema at Nike
One of the reasons you haven't seen as much Amanda Conner and Jan Duursema art lately is that they've been working on a superheroine-themed campaign for Nike.
Continue ReadingAnother day, more Superman set photos
The cast of the new Superman movie were standing and sitting around the set the other day, and people snapped pictures of them.
Continue ReadingElvira and Mr. Spock won’t be the same at cons any more
Even as nerd culture rages around us, some of the pioneers of the genre are going to be taking it a little easier these days, after many hard years in the con trenches.
Continue ReadingKibbles ‘n’ Bits, 10/7/2011
The planet has been crisscrossed of late by barnstorming cartoonists of the highest caliber, and reports of these events are up on the internet. Amazing!
Continue ReadingWebcomic Alert: SUPERMAKER
Andrew Drilon, a Filipino artist best known for Kare Kare Kamix, a daring experimental webcomic, is back with SUPERMAKER at Top Shelf 2.0. It's an excellent metafictional play on the crisis era of comics. Even if you don't like superheroes, keep clicking!
Continue ReadingMarvel has no circulation: COO Jim Sokolowski gone
The Beat has confirmed reports that Jim "Ski" Sokolowski has left Marvel, presumably not of his own accord. As chief operating officer, "Ski" as he was universally known, was a much liked and respected executive with a no nonsense manner and an encyclopedic knowledge of circulation and distribution, a knowledge he earned during a pervious stint at Marvel, which was followed by time at DC. He left DC to go back to Marvel four years ago, lured back by publisher Dan Buckley. At the time the move was seen as quite a blow to DC.
Continue ReadingComings and goings; Mosher, McGuinness, Pantozzi, Asselin
Lots of people coming and going around the industry.
Continue ReadingInternational Comic Arts Forum 2011 Keynote Speaker touches on Cross-dressing
Guy Spielmann, one of the founders of the ICAF and a French professor at Georgetown University, gave a keynote speech on a rather free and fun subject: " Cross-dressing In Early Modern Europe" as seen through European comics and manga.
Continue ReadingDrawbridge does Starfire
That didn't quite sound right. Anyway, art blog DRAWBRIDGE is spotlighting everyone's favorite Tamaran, Starfire this week. Here's Michel Fiffe's post-swim take.
Continue ReadingHabibi’s Orientalism: Exploration or exploitation?
No one can deny that Craig Thompson'sHABIBI is a gorgeous work of linework and cartooning on a supreme level of beauty, much of it inspired by Arabic calligraphy. BUt it's equally true that Habibi is also a work that takes the tropes of Orientalism and uses them for the backbone of its story. Thompson has acknowledged as much in recent interviews, but says he used it as a fairy tale background, he way one would use cowboys and Indians. Orientalism is a set of stereotypes and attitudes cataloged by critic Edward Said, , defining it as "a manner of regularized (or Orientalized) writing, vision, and study, dominated by imperatives, perspectives, and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the Orient." Everything from The Arabian Nights to The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad to The English Patient is Orientalist in view -- a fairy tale world of efreets and harems and passionate desert nights.
Continue ReadingNew TINTIN trailer: There will be punching
A new international trailer for THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN has just been released, and it's a lot more rock 'em, sock 'em than previous trailers, with punching, jumping, leaping, crouching, and other bursts of action that seem more typical of a Steven Spielberg film.
Continue ReadingDigital Comics: The new distribution war
While news of Haven Distribution shutting down yesterday marked the end of one attempt at breaking up the dominance of Diamond as comics giant distributor, in digital land, there is still a LOT of competition. Monday's dueling announcements from Graphicly and comiXology on going day and date with Image Comics is a case in point. First off, there seems to be a bit of confusion over just what each company announced. Graphicly said they were going to be going DaD with the "entire publishing catalog", while comiXology promised "top titles." Does Graphicly have MORE Image titles than comiXology?
Continue ReadingDay and date digital nearly the norm
We got a note from comiXology yesterday pointing out that nearly half of all the comics released yesterday -- 40% -- were also available digitally yesterday. There were over 40 titles, including books from DC, Marvel, Image, Archie, and Dynamite. DC and Archie are offering their entire line, while Marvel and Image are offering their top books, like X-MEN: SCHISM and THE WALKING DEAD.
Continue ReadingHaven: Gone but not forever, maybe
Lance Stahlberg, the man who ran Haven Distribution, has confirmed that the comics distributor is shutting down at the end of the month, but that isn't the whole story. Stahlberg explains that he was not the owner of the company, and the money men basically pulled the plug. It is possible that the company may be sold, and Stahlberg sounds like he's dedicated to giving it another chance if it happens:
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