Ted Rall scolds multimillion-dollar charity for asking for free cartoons
Does the Society pay any of its staff? Does it rent office space? Does it buy office supplies? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," please consider paying cartoonists and other creators. Cartooning is hard work, and it deserves recompense.
Continue ReadingDC sells 5 million comics, decides to lay them end to end
DC sold a lot of comics — so many that they actually sent out a press release about it; even Diane Nelson, previously silent on the relaunch, now thinks it was a great idea. Selling five million comics in 6 weeks is indeed a sizable number; however what augurs the best for the comics industry is that sales across the board were up. Marvel had its best September in a while, as did Image. We're not talking a return to 1993 -- as some retailers thinks -- but more like a return to 2003. Which is still great. It's fairly obvious that customers were waiting for something exciting to happen in order to go back into stores; these disenchanted readers -- Dan DiDio's much loved "lapsed readers" -- have now discovered that comics are still fun. But will they stay that way?
Continue ReadingBooks-a-Million joins DC book removal over Kindle deal
PW reports that Books-a-Million, the OTHER book chain remaining, has also ordered DC's top 100 GNs removed from their shelves in retaliation for DC's signing a digital four-month exclusive with Amazon.
Continue ReadingDC’s Amazon exclusive may last only four months
Buried in the flurry of news over the B&N/DC war, it appears that DC's exclusive on 100 graphic novels for Kindle may last only four months. Although no one from DC will comment publicly, they seem to have hinted to the LA Times that it was only an exclusivity window, and DC has sucked it up and will have to swallow the loss in sales until that window is over.
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:
Continue ReadingHaven Distributors announces closing down; one man stands against a monopoly
Although various factors are being thrown around as contributing to the closing Haven Distributors-- including the New 52 -- it isn't entirely clear what did them in. Distribution is a middle man's game, the most difficult in the food chain, and a business of margins. Haven never really seems to gain traction with retailers or publishers -- according to one indie publisher we spoke with, Haven's order were very small and irregular and never surpassed the Cold Cut orders. Front man Lance Stahlberg was well thought of, but his efforts remained low key.
Continue ReadingA manifesto that came true
Writer Tony Isabella ruminates on his A COMIC-BOOK MANIFESTO from 1996 and wonders how far we've come:
Continue ReadingDC decides to do some market research — let them know how you feel
While DC has made no secret of the fact they have spent a huge amount for advertising their relaunch -- which seems to have worked -- they have not made any public notice about spending any money on the other side of the equation: market research. As evil as surveys and focus groups can be, when you're trying to launch a new product, sometimes they can give you a little distance and consumer feedback. And given a few of the reactions to the reboot, maybe a little focus grouping might have yielded some surprising results. Now it seems a phase 2 is being rolled out. In a retailer mailing, DC announced they have hired Nielsen -- yes of TV ratings fame -- one of the most respected polling companies out there to survey retailers, and customers. There is an online survey for customers that you can take. Please -- don't be shy.
Continue ReadingSchmoozing in the White Space: an interview with Lance Fensterman and Peter Levin
[As if New York Comic-Con wasn't shaping up to be mad crazy already, recently a very special invitation only summit for Preview NIght day was announced. NYCC organizer ReedPOP, fellow Reed division ReedMIDEM, the international rights marketplace, and nerd culture media outposts GeekChicDaily and Nerdist Industries have joined together to bring 100 movers and shakers in comics, film games and so on together to talk about changing business models. WHITE SPACE is "designed to foster open, transparent discussion between industry leaders." While everyone waits anxiously by the Blackberry for their invite, we got a chance to talk to Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President of ReedPOP, and Peter Levin, GeekChicDaily founder and CEO to find out just what this geek G8 is all about.]
Continue ReadingNew 52 stimulus flowing freely into comics shops
No matter what you think of Starfire or Catwoman or Batwoman or BIRDS OF PREY, one thing is for sure: The New 52 is a huge success. Retailers across the nation are talking about how great sales have been, with sometimes triple digits of even books that no one felt would sell flying off shelves. Or, as ComicsPRO president Joe Field put it, DC's stimulus is working.
Continue ReadingICv2 Conference takes 2011 hiatus
When ReedPOP's White Space think tank was announced last week, taking place in conjunction with New York Comic-Con, you might have wondered what happened to ICv2's traditional conference, usually held on the Thursday before the show--and co-sponsored by The Beat. It turns out that because NYCC is four days this year -- preview night on Thursday and three full days afterwards -- a slot just couldn't be found for the conference. A statement has just been released:
Continue ReadingReedPOP launches pop culture industry think tank WHITE SPACE
It's getting so you can't launch a secret cabal without a good press release. This year's NYCC will be co-located with an invitation-only think tank for "100 masters and innovators in the fields of TV, film, comics, games, technology and advertising" called White Space. Besides ReedPOP, parent company of NYCC, White Space is backed by the television market show MIPTV, also owned by Reed. Also involved, pop culture sites GeekChicDaily and Nerdist, which will help put together the programming.
Continue ReadingWizardWorld made $3 million from conventions in 2010
Gotta love those SEC filings. With Wizard now a publicly traded penny stock, all kinds of numbers can be gleaned from their latest business report. Including the revenue and operating income from 2010's convention business.
Continue ReadingThe daily 52: notes and quotes from all over
All of the most important people are being quoted on the actual impact of the sales success of the New 52. DC's much advertised and marketed initiative has been credited with bringing a herd of new and lapsed readers into comics stores, and so far it does NOT seem to be at the expense of other publishers. Let's take a look shall we?
Continue ReadingDiDio and Lee: “Future cloudy, ask again later.”
Yesterday, ICv2 ran a three-part interview with DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and JIm Lee which is, if not the most substantial comics business site run interview with the duo ever then the most comprehensive since the reboot. Brigid runs down all the high points but in case anyone missed it, here's Part 1, Part 2 andPart 3. It covers everything from the obvious "Why ARE you doing this?" -- to questions on mass market, digital, and so on. The net effect, as seen in mainstream interviews of late, is that things weren't working -- the price decrease didn't bring in enough new readers, stories were flat and piracy is hurting. But there are some familiar themes as well. Asked about The Way Forward, they respond:
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