SD10: Indie Comics Saturday
Dark Horse Given that pretty much all of the Spartans died at the Battle of Thermopylae - which was sort of the point - people have been speculating for years about how Frank Miller would wring a sequel out of his hit Dark Horse graphic novel and movie 300. Today, at Comic-Con, the answer came out. The sequel, XERXES, will actually take place at exactly the same time on another battlefield of the same war.
Continue ReadingSD10: Please memorize this map — then swallow it
This is all you need to actually get good comics. VISIT OFTEN. UPDATED WITH MORE ESSENTIAL PUBLISHERS LIKE FANTAGRAPHICS.
Continue ReadingBongo Comics website launches tomorrow
When lists of the most successful and lasting independent comics companies are made up, few people ever include Bongo, known for titles in the “Groening-verse” of Futurama, The Simpsons, and Life in Hell. But Bongo is celebrating its 17th year of publishing comics this year! And to mark the occasion they have a new website, [...]
Continue ReadingSD10: Sparkplug Books #1630
Breaking news! THERE WILL BE COMICS AT COMIC-CON! Sparkplug Books, publisher of some of the best comics of Comic-Con -- hopefully their booth will be MOBBED as they supply hundreds of quality comics by people like Benjamin Marra, Katie Skelly, Matthew Thurber and Noah Van Sciver to a comics-starved audience. Sparkplug's entire summer schedule is in the jump.
Continue ReadingSD10: Exhibit A #1909
Batton Lash and Exhibit A Press are back again with a new book. Details below:
Continue ReadingIndie Month-to-Month Sales: May 2010
By Matthew Murray Buffy returned to its usual position of top selling “indie” book this month, but its the last issue before it goes on hiatus for a few months. “Hellboy in Mexico Or, A Drunken Blur” was technically the highest selling number one of the month, though I’m not sure if they bothered putting a number [...]
Continue ReadingRemembering Harvey
It would have pleased Harvey Pekar, I think, that his passing yesterday was noted in every media outlet from the New Yorker to EW, and not just because they made a movie about him, but as a literary figure of worth and stature. Harvey's life's work was in showing that the ordinary was important, and a working class existence was not a prison but a journey through the profound and beautiful that anyone could experience if they took the time. He found that beauty in simple, quotidian things and experiences that others might have found trivial or mundane, but in the end his message was that what else is there? Life as it is lived is the most precious gift of all.
Continue ReadingIndie Month-to-Month Sales: April 2010
The top “indie” book on the charts this month is a $1 issue of The Walking Dead #1. However, none of the other Image $1 books have charted either this month or last, so I’m not sure how accurate this numbers is. Invincible Returns was the best selling non-reprint #1 of the month, and led to a substantial increase for the regular issue of Invincible as well. While Turf #1, also from Image, was the highest launch of the month. Image had a 4.26% unit share, and a 3.96% dollar share, Dark Horse had a 3.82% unit share and a 4.88% dollar share, IDW had a 3.41% unit share and a 3.92% dollar share. Dynamite fell to a 2.38% unit share and a 2.33% dollar share.
Continue ReadingIndie Month-to-Month Sales: March 2010
By Matthew Murray Dynamite grabs the top indie comic spot this month with the first issue of their adaptation of Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet script. However, issue 2 sees a fairly large drop, and people seem unsure if the market can support the five Green Hornet titles Dynamite plans on launching. Elsewhere on the chart Green Hornet Year One written by Matt Wagner is the second biggest indie launch of the month, The Guild and Terminator are Dark Horse’s newest launches, and Zenescope shipped a lot of books. IDW had a 3.61% market share, and 4.02% dollar share, Dark Horse had 3.33% market share and 4.76% dollar share (gotta love those trade paperback sales), Dynamite had 3.08% market share and 3.40% dollar share, and Image had 3.01% market share and 3.22% dollar share. I’ve listed every indie title in the top 225, every Dark Horse, Image, and IDW title in the top 300, and a selection of other titles.Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.
Continue ReadingA few more Stumptown memories
If you couldn’t be at Stumptown, you could follow along via Twitter, or check out the Portland Mercury’s photos, or Anna Faltermeier’s, or read Sara Ryan’s account of the Comics for Young Readers panel OR watch Jeff Parker transform into a Juggalo.
Continue ReadingAn interview with Dylan Williams
Dylan Williams is the founder of Sparkplug Comic Books, art film/used bookstore owner , and guy behind the scenes in many of Portland's comic and independent press events. A few months back, I sent Dylan some questions for an article on Diamond for PW Comics, expecting a few short answers, and when I got his responses, I wanted to print them all.
Continue ReadingMoCCA: The Devastator
Okay we don’t mention every kickstarter project we get, but when they have a promo video starring James Urbaniak, you jump to the head of the list. Amanda Meadows writes: Wanna give you heads up about a new comics and humor anthology series called The Devastator. It’s got dudes from The Onion, The Simpsons, Various Comedy Central programs like [...]
Continue ReadingUK Web & Minicomix Thing
The UK Web & Mini Comix Thing happened this past Saturday, and despite a lack of “big” names (and the nearest tube station being closed until the early afternoon) leading to a smaller attendance than previous years, those attending found it to be a generally positive experience. One of the reasons for this was the Dino-Saw-Us [...]
Continue ReadingIndie Month-to-Month Sales: February 2010
By Matthew Murray The big news this month is that IDW have become a premier publisher. I would include the percentages of the market various companies have, except there’s a fairly big error in the chart this month. Other than massive errors, Buffy sees a small rise thanks to Brad Meltzer coming on as writer and the [...]
Continue ReadingART BREAK: Toby Cypress and THE SCHIZOPHRENIC
ZIP Comics is a new publisher in Previews, and their first book is THE SCHIZOPHRENIC, written by Josh Frankel with art by Toby Cypress. Around Stately Beat Manor, we loooooooovvvvveeesss us some Toby Cypress art, especially when he colors it himself. Trippy. More preview pages at the link.
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