David Gabriel explains Marvel’s trade program
ICv2 has a wide ranging interview with Marvel's Sr VP of Sales, David Gabriel, and it covers just about every topic you could imagine, from digital coupon conversion to page counts to pricing. Go here for all that: Part 1 and Part 2. However since we've had a high degree of scrutiny on Marvel's trade program of late, here's what he had to say on that topic:
Continue ReadingNerdist and ReedPop pact, plan White Space 2
Chris Hardwick's role as nerd frontman to the world continues unabated as he's just signed a deal to appear at more ReedPop events, including C2E2 and NYCC. The "Talking Dead" host will appear at several events at both shows, and Nerdist Industries will participate in another White Space B2B think tank event such as was held at the 2011 New York Comic-Con.
Continue ReadingDiamond Comics Distribution is 30
Is February 1 really Comics Day and not just Hourly Comics Day? It is the birthday of The Beat (2), ACT-I-VATE (6), Image Comics (20), The Day The Comics Stopped (0) and also Diamond Comics Distributors, a birthday that we failed to mark yesterday in all the hoopla. It was 30 years ago that the company was incorporated, the first step in becoming the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books, graphic novels and related pop-culture merchandise.
Continue ReadingNew funding strategy for comickers: borrow money from David Choe, the $200 million artist
David Choe, the eccentric and talented graffiti artist/painter who once flamed out as the artist on an X-Men spin-off, is now set to make about $200 million from the Facebook stock offering. It seems that back in the day Choe painted murals for Facebook's Palo Alto offices...and instead of taking a lump sum he asked for stock. As you may have heard, Facebook went public yesterday, and was quickly valued at $5 billion or so, making Choe's little decision one of the savviest moves ever by an art-type. “Always double down on 11. Always," Choe advises in a recent art book.
Continue ReadingWhy streaming content still sucks as a business model
While we all contemplate the various issues regarding revenue for comics and where it will come from, let's look at where we all assume it will be going: some variant of streaming content. With Apple—and the rest of the market —doing everything they can to kill off the DVD and "the cloud' becoming the place from whence all jollies will emerge, it is still not a great source of revenue for the big players like Netflix and Spotify.
Continue ReadingMust read: Worldwide manga troubles
Lost in the storms of outrage over every boob shot and inker change at various superheroes comics is the real underreported story of the last six months; the decline in graphic novel sales and the concurrent decline of manga. While the former is definitely partly caused by the latter and both are undoubtedly influenced by the bankruptcy of Borders, the full causes behind both have yet to be fully analyzed. The manga side of the equation is covered in depth however in a lengthy column by Jason Thompson at io9 called Why Manga Publishing Is Dying (And How It Could Get Better). Thompson is no stranger to the manga field, having authored the essential reference Manga: The Complete Guide and the manga King of RPGs for TokyoPop. So his analysis is well worth following:
Continue ReadingAshes to Ashes: Alex de Campi responds to Jimmy Broxton’s tale
The Beat has now received Alex de Campi's rebuttal to James Hodgkin's statement on being fired from ASHES, the graphic novel project they got funded on Kickstarter for $32,000. I said I would have my comments, and they are sad ones. I'm an admirer of both creators involved here -- professionally and personally. But if there was ever a case of he said/she said this is it. "Creative differences" indeed. The whole thing reminds me (for the old timers out there) of D'arc Tangent, a long ago collaboration between Phil Foglio and Freff which dissolved into "creative differences," never to be seen again.
Continue ReadingEXCLUSIVE: Jimmy Broxton talks about the Ashes split
Artist Jimmy Broxton/James Hodgkins has broken his silence about the ASHES split.
Continue ReadingYes, DC really has applied for trademark for a new logo
Although some websites prefer not to use sources, it is our policy at The Beat to link away. Thus we can confirm that it is indeed true that Warners has applied for trademark registry on a new logo, as you can see above. The trademark is in black and white so that any color can be applied. "Color is not claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of the letter "D" flipping back to reveal the letter "C" and DC ENTERTAINMENT." To be honest, when we first thought this, we suspected it was a new logo for DC shoes. But no. As others have commented, this "peel back" logo makes the much-mocked swish — introduced in 2005 — look like the Milton Glaser-designed original in terms of readability.
Continue ReadingWhat Wizard’s SEC filings reveal about the company’s future
The end of 2011 was a time of turmoil for the brand known as Wizard. Founder Gareb Shamus was forced out by his own board, and the new board committed to mending fences and resurrecting the media end of the brand to go along with the successful convention business. Now the company's annual report has just been posted and sadly for snoopers, the financials only go up to the end of 2010. However there is lots of other interesting reading, including the difficulty of running a web-based media enterprise -- it's not making any money, which will surprise no one -- and the convention business -- only Chicago and Philadelphia are profitable with the other events losing money.
Continue ReadingBechdel’s ARE YOU MY MOTHER gets 100K first printing
As we've mentioned here several times, there have been no more important graphic novels published in this century than PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi and FUN HOME by Alison Bechdel. Both found large audiences well beyond the traditional ones for comics, and both have become oft-imitated -- but never duplicated -- by book publishers trying to cash in on the "graphic novel" trend. (The number of graphic autobiographies exploring ethnic roots alone is staggering.)
Continue ReadingBandai Entertainment reorganizes, ceases publishing manga, DVDs, and Blu-rays
Well, that didn't take long. 2012 has claimed its first publishing casualty as Bandai Entertainment has announced they will be canceling their manga and home entertainment publishing to focus on licensing their brands as they undergo a restructuring. Their Facebook and Twitter accounts will also be shut down.
Continue ReadingThe Freelance Life: What Cee Lo can teach cartoonists
Since everyone is always comparing the comics business to the music business in terms of retail erosion, howabout looking at a music success story? The New York Times has a profile of musician Cee Lo Green explaining how, despite the economic decimation in the music industry, he's been able to make some $20 million this year by rigorously branding himself and expanding his activities to including numerous TV hosting gigs, merchandising and Vegas. Along the way some interesting iTunes numbers are dropped. Although "F&^% You," Cee Lo's anthemic yet catchy song of moving on was downloaded some 5.3 million times in the US, that doesn't mean he made $5 million from it.
Continue ReadingSCOOP: New chairman talks about the new Wizard World
Wizard World without Gareb Shamus. The entire idea would have seemed ridiculous until just a few days ago when an SEC filing revealed that Shamus, the owner and founder of the company, had been removed as CEO. It was startling news which left everyone wondering what would become of the Wizard brand — once mighty in both media coverage and entertainment shows. Answers are beginning to emerge. In an interview with The Beat, Wizard’s executive chairman Mike Mathews revealed that a new era has already begun at Wizard World, which will include outreach to the entire industry in a move to repair damaged relationships with both other industry players and fans. In one of the most notorious examples of the bad blood which the old Wizard had given rise to, subscribers to the print magazine had not been given any make-up subscriptions for issues paid for but never mailed. However, according to Mathews, a letter is being sent out to old subscribers offering them a $100 credit towards Wizard shows.
Continue ReadingValiant to relaunch in May with some old favorites
The Valiant comics relaunch has been brewing for a while, with some hires and much consultation, but they've just let the cat out of the bag -- their new line is expected to launch next May, with a Free Comic Book Day preview leading the way. The preview will feature X-O MANOWAR, BLOODSHOT, HARBINGER, and probably some other Valiant favorites. The creatives teams haven't been announced but the preview over is by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic. Valiant has also hired Hunter Gorinson as Marketing & Communications Manager and Atom Freeman as Senior Sales Representative in addition to Warren Simon as Executive Editor, so they're putting together a pretty good team.
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