Listen to Heidi MacDonald, The Beat herself, discuss 2011 in comics on a special year-end edition of More To Come, the PW Comics World podcast!

As you may or may not know, Heidi has been one of the hosts of our bi-weekly comics news podcast for the past several months. In this episode, Heidi MacDonald and her co-hosts PW Comics World editor Calvin Reid and I discuss the biggest trends and events of the past year, including the closing of Borders, the rise of Kickstarter and the growing visibility of female comics fans and creators.

Ring Out The Old: 2011 in Review is Episode 14, so if you like what you hear and you haven’t tuned in before, there’s a whole lot more of Heidi where that came from!

Click here for a link to both parts of our special double-length episode. For best results, downloading is recommended instead of streaming.

More to Come is also available free by subscription and individual download on iTunes.

My voice is back enough to podcast! A miracle! Check out this week’s Comic News Insider Episode 322 – Walking The Beat with Heidi MacDonald in which I co-host with Jimmy Aquino:

Stepping into the rotating co-host chair this week is good friend Heidi MacDonald (The Beat). Heidi gives a great recap of last week’s big Chicago comic convention, C2E2. Jimmy hopes his real journalist pal wont call him out on his fajournalism. They chat about Jimmy being interviewed in Stated Mag, wish William Shatner a Happy 80th, judge the first pic of Adrianne Palicki in herWonder Woman outfit, Pop Funk Archie t-shirts and the new Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Seth Rogen movie Paul. News includes: Zack Snyder’s plan for his Superman film, new Sailor Moon in the U.S., The Sandman TV series is back on, Steve Rude needs an intern and Darren Aronofsky leaving the Wolverine movie. Listener feedback and more! Leave your iTunes comments! 5 stars and nothing but love!

The audio on my voice is a bit low, so you may need to use headphones. We had a blast doing it, and Inky the cat even makes a guest appearance.

For those who don’t know, Jimmy’s podcast used to have a regular co-host, Joe Gonzalez, who left the show not to pursue writing or acting or the usual suspects, but rather to spend more time with his charity, the Project Solution, which, rather than trying to solve a macro problem, tries to fix one thing, like building A well, or buying A class textbooks. From where we sit that’s pretty damned awesome. If you’d like to make a difference, check it out.

FREAKANGELS artist Paul Duffield, who has a background in animation, shares some informed thoughts on motion comics, proving that there is more you can say about the hybrid form than “Yuck.” However, there is a conceptual problem, he says.

This isn’t to say that they can’t and haven’t be well done before, but I think there might be a deeper problem at work – if a motion comic is constructed out of frames from pre-existing comics, they have to present parts of a now-missing page, (literally ripping bits of art out of a larger piece of art), and because they’re low budget, they offer very little to replace what has been lost. I’ve never found the result as engaging as either the original comic, or a purpose-built animation. And if a motion comic is actually a purpose-built animation, then there’s no need to call it a comic – it’s not one. Ideally, I’d love to see animation and comics in a new fusion-genre with its own unique storytelling properties, but most attempts seem to fall into the sort of lacklustre animation I’ve described, or into experimental webcomics with interactive or animated features (the only successful one of which I’ve ever seen is When I am King). With the internet and internet devices being what they are, I wonder if we’re seeing a new medium spending a bit too long in its infancy, or just the illusion of one that just doesn’t have anywhere meaningful to go. I guess time will tell.

Should comics panels be written about or recorded for all to hear?

This panel report from APE of Dan Nadel interviewing Daniel Clowes has been linked everywhere, probably because it’s such a thorough write-up. There’s lots of dish on other cartoonists, and anecdotes from the history of alt.comix:

Clowes told a story how the first panel he was ever on was comprised him, Robert Crumb, Gilbert Hernandez, Peter Bagge and Burne Hogarth. Hogarth spent the entire panel yelling at the independent cartoonists on the panel, saying how they were horrible artists.

“He spent almost an entire hour saying how we were the worst artists who ever lived,” recalled Clowes. “It was an audience full of young, hipster kids who wanted to see Robert Crumb and Crumb was not saying a word because Hogarth was rambling on. People started yelling out, ‘Shut up, old man!’ and finally Crumb just slowly leaned back in his chair and did a pratfall. Hogarth didn’t miss a beat, though, he just kept on going. I literally did not say a word on that panel.”

It’s probably been widely quoted because instead of the usual “Where did you get your ideas for WILSON?” questions, Nadel is comfortable enough with Clowes to just rap about comics, as suggested by Peggy Burns.

There’s finally audio of the panel up at Comics Comics, so you can listen for yourself.

Which reminds me of a growing beef — why is the set-up for recording panels at conventions so crap? During the ICV2 Digital and Comics Conference I tried to record them on my Mac but the ambient room audio eluded my technical ability. Milton Griepp used his little dictaphone but the quality wasn’t the best. I have to admit, I think we both screwed the pooch there with something that the average 12-year-old would be able to handle.

I recorded a few NYCC panels with my iPhone — the quality is fine for spoken word purposes. It takes a few minutes to clean and upload the audio files. In short, this is child’s play. So why aren’t all comics panels routinely recorded? I was told that at PAX, the video game conference, they record all the panels and CHARGE for the audio.

Part of this may be the lowly origins of the comic book convention panel. Having been on untold panels in my lifetime, I can attest to the fact that they range from horrific hungover Sunday exercises in awkward phrasing and long pauses best left in the scrapheap, to stimulating once-in-a-lifetime meetings of the mind. But of late it turns out we comics folks have a lot to say and a lot of Internet to say it on. Perhaps the time has come to archive more of these slices of history.

Thankfully, someone with a decent mike was able to record the Nadel/Clowes panel. But we’ve lost a lot of other pieces of our comics heritage along the way. Unless they are all in Mike Catron’s garage somewhere….but that is a post for another time.

Podcasters Jimmy Aquino and Joe Gonzalez and their long running Comic News Insider podcast are big supporters of The Beat, and the feeling is mutual, so we were happy to go down and put in an appearance on their Gala 300th Episode But we were in fantastic company: Kevin Maguire (JLA), Kate Beaton (HARK! A VAGRANT), Veronica Taylor (voice of Ash from Pokemon), Michael Emerson (Ben Linus from Lost), Molly Crabapple (Dr. Sketchy’s), and Ben McCool aka FMB (CHOKER) were also on the show. Beaton did a long interview that revealed her construction site past, and everyone else was equally informative. Good times!

Another jam packed and fascinating discussion among people who have a lot to say. NYC participants:

Print vs. Digital–War, Co-existence, or Collaboration
Publishers, retailers, and others on how the digital revolution will impact on print sales.
- Ted Adams, CEO of IDW Publishing
- Eric Beaulieu, Vice President Premedia, Transcontinental Transmedia
- Dave Bowen, Director of Digital Distribution, Diamond Comic Distributors
- David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Marvel Comics
- Alison Hendon, Youth Selection Team Leader, Brooklyn Public Library
- John Riley, owner of Grasshopper Comics
- Moderated by Calvin Reid, Senior News Editor, Publishers Weekly

Again, thanks to Milton Griepp for making the audio files available to us.

Jeremy Bastian’s CURSED PIRATE GIRL is one of those comics in periodical format that in an earlier era probably would have gotten a great deal of support as an independent project by a talented cartoonist with a distinctive vision, kinda steampunk, kinda old school illustration. However, in a day and age inhospitable to the serial comic, only three issues have seen print. But now a cast recording is underway, with Stephanie Leonidas in the starring role. Leonidas is best known as the star of MIRRORMASK, the Dave McKean-drected, Neil Gaiman written fantasy film. Making a cast recording for a comic is a bit unusual, and so is the distribution method — it will only be played at various signings in the fall. A quirky promotion for a quirky book.

If you’re looking for indie cartoonists at NYCC, the Indie Spinner Rack booth is as good as any to find ‘em!

We are premiering the first official ISR t-shirt and will have copies of the Awesome anthology available! We will be recording interviews throughout the weekend and will be raffling off a huge original sketch jam piece!

Creators signing and sketching at the ISR booth:
Friday:
3:30-5:30 – Dan Piraro (Bizarro)
3-7 – Mike Dawson (Freddie & Me)
3-7 – MK Reed (Papercutter, The Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff)
Saturday:
10-1 – George Lavigne (Awesome anthology)
10-2 – Monica Gallagher (Gods & Undergrads, Boobage)
1-4 Liz Baillie (My Brain Hurts)
1-4 – Jamie Tanner (The Aviary)
4-7 – Julia Wertz (The Fart Party)
4-7 – Sarah Glidden (How to Understand Israel in Sixty Days or Less)
Sunday:
10-1- Fred Chao (Johnny Hiro)
10-1 – Nick Bertozzi (The Salon)
1-4 – Alec Longstreth (Phase 7, Papercutter)
1-4 – Salgood Sam (Therefore Repent)
4-7 – Jamie Tanner (The Aviary)
Be sure to stop by our booth for additional creator appearances
and for the scoop on the huge annoucement we’re making at the con!

The Comic Book Club folks are now PODCASTING. So you can now listen to the State of the Industry show with ourself, Brian Heater, Kiel Phegley, and John DiBello.

HEAR Dan Nadel interview Powr Mastrs auteur CF here. SEE Gary Panter, Brian Chippendale / Blak Pus and Paper Rad on the new PictureBox YouTube channel.

Blake Bell posts an mp3 of Gary Groth interviewing Todd McFarlane. We’re told it’s “classik” with a “k”.

Clickwheel has been around for a bit as the first company to attempt to take advantage of comics on the iPod. While it hasn’t been maing many headlines lately, it does have some recent updates in regards to the new generation of iPods:

In the wake of Apple’s new iPod line, Clickwheel, the site for creating and distributing comics to iPod and iPhone, is proud to unveil a brand new look as well as added features and content at Clickwheel.net, including community tools and exclusive online content featuring 2000AD’s flagship character, Judge Dredd.

The new Clickwheel front page features an updated look, a built-in player for viewing content on your computer and new features for registered users including: bookmarking tools that alert users when their favorite comics have been updated, a listing of the top ten downloaded features daily and those most recently updated and added, and rating and tagging tools to help both readers and creators enjoy and share their comics.

Among these comics are three pieces exclusive to Clickwheel. For users new to the concept of comics on the iPod we have part two of Colin White’s Comics on small Screens, a series exploring the possibilities of creating comics in this new medium. Clickwheel is also the exclusive home of a new series from the creators of the phenomenally popular webcomic, Brat-Halla called Random Encounters. True to its name, Random Encounters is an RPG/Fantasy driven comic packed with action and humor for fans of any genre. Both of these comics are available as iPod/iPhone formatted comics ready for download, or as PDFs that can be viewed on any PC or iPhone.

Finally, it has been on the wish-list since Clickwheel joined forces with Rebellion/2000AD, but wish no more because Judge Dredd has come to Clickwheel. Judge Dredd: Fifty Year Man is now available online only at Clickwheel, and is sure to please new and old fans of one of comics’ most enduring characters. Fifty Year Man is available for download as an iPod comic, a PDF, or as a Clickwheel video animatic, playable on your iPod, or on your PC via Clickwheel’s homepage player.

These exclusive pieces are in addition to recently commissioned exclusives from Joe Loves Crappy Movies, The Non-Adventures of Wonderella, and 2000AD’s Ten Seconders. In the coming year, Clickwheel will be continuing to commission a limited amount of exclusive work from the best independent creators out there. If you’d like to be considered, email a pitch for your comic to tim ’at’ clickwheel.net.

In addition to new content, Clickwheel is now offering a new type of content in our comic trailer functionality. At the top of the right hand panel on the Clickwheel home page you will find a trailer button that will prompt a list of trailers and previews for various print and web comics currently available on the site. This is only the beginning of this feature and we plan to build a one-stop source for previews of all the hottest upcoming comics, much like Apple’s Quicktime page is for movies. Clickwheel trailers can be either PDF or movie files and if you’d like to have your trailer featured at Clickwheel, simply email the file to tim ’at’ clickwheel.net and we’ll happily post it for you with no additional steps.

This is just the beginning of what Clickwheel has planned for 07 and 08, and we look forward to offering additional tools and features to help pros and independents alike create and promote their work to the iPod generation.

For more information, we have completely rewritten our FAQ to include in-depth guides to creating comics for iPod, and if you’d like to chime in, we’d love to hear from you in our new forum.

For more information or press inquiries, contact tim ‘at’ clickwheel.net

Even though THE BEAT and her helper monkey have been talking about Chris Benoit’s brain, that’s not the wrestling talk we have for you today.

As everyone knows, there are a multitude of similarities between the two popular culture whipping boys: brightly-colored outfits, supersized muscles, and so on.

Today, we shine a line on one of our favorite wrestling companies, CHIKARA PRO, and their love of comics. You may have seen them references on MTV recently, talking about wrestling and video games (CHIKARA has a Nintendo-loving garppler on their crew called Player Uno).

CHIKARA’S DVD releases have, for the last couple years, been homages to famous comic book covers. You undoubtedly recognize the originals that inspired these discs.

More after the break

CHIKARA just released their second pod-per-view on Itunes today. For less than the price of one overly-expensive cup of Mocha Frappo coffee, you can check out this crew of wacky Americanized Luchadors, include Los Ice Creams, as well as two of the country’s toughest female grapplers, Daizee Haize and Sara Del Ray.

Also, we’ll have an ashcan edition of our magazine at the Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend reprint our articles about CHIKARA, as well as a trip a few weeks ago to see the WWE minor league wrestling promotions, Ohio Valley Wrestling and Derby City Wrestling, in Louisville.

– Posted by Mark Coale

Via Colleen Coover the “Comics are not literature” panel from San Diego that was practically the only provocative one, as far as we can tell, is up. We haven’t listened yet, but it’s very high on our catch up list.

Image of Douglas Wolk, Dan Nadel, and Sara Ryan stolen from Coover. Who just got married this weekend to panelist on the above Paul Tobin so big congrats to the happy couple, and here’s a picture of that, taken by Paul Guinan.

Blake Bell is celebrating Hernandez Brothers week, and of course you don’t have to ask us twice to join in the fun. Bell is posting mp3’s of a 1989 interview of Gilbert Hernandez by Gary Groth and throwws in a few observations:

Interesting that, in part one, Gilbert name checks Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko as inspirations/influences. And it’s fantastic to see that Gilbert has the work ethic of both those creators. Every time I turn around, Gilbert’s producing new work that is consistently well drawn, with a unique narrative. His latest work is a mini-series for Dark Horse Comics entitled, The Devil You Know. Go here for a preview and “trailer” from the Dark Horse site. In an era where my favourite indie artists seem to produce a book a year, Gilbert also has another full-length graphic novel coming out from Fantagraphics called, Chance In Hell.

We praise Beto’s prolific nature! Praise him with great praise!