Job postings from around the net in comics related positions reveal that some areas are still growing, mostly digital, but also brick and mortar:

§ Jim Hanley’s Universe is hiring “friendly, knowledgeable individuals to fill multiple part time positions at its Manhattan and Staten Island stores”. Come be a future Comic Book Man (or Woman)

§ DC is hiring s Content Editor for the West Coast to work in Digital. They call it “ramping up”!

DC’s looking for a Content Editor, someone who is a “creative, digitally savvy, and strategic-minded individual” to join their Interactive Marketing team.

The Content Editor “will be responsible for leading the day-to-day planning, development, and execution of DC Entertainment’s digital content strategy across all platforms (online, mobile, social media, etc).”

§ Papercutz is hiring a Marketing Director

§ Marvel has a whole JOBS BOARD. Among the most recent positions:

Senior Web Application Developer
Web Application Developer
Financial Analyst, Participations & Residuals Accounting
Mid-Level Marketing Partnerships

Comics! They’re hiring!

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:

[Q:] Marvel tends to let its book format collections go out of print more quickly than some of its competitors, treating them as more temporary products than as long term backlist. Can you describe the rationale for that strategy?

Let’s clarify that statement. Top selling evergreen books are not allowed to go out of print. Folks continually want to dredge up the past where nothing was thought of as evergreen. Our two top selling collected editions for 2011, as noted in the market share ranks, were Civil War and Wolverine Old Man Logan. We keep those books in print because with the demand we’d be fools not to do so.

Books that we don’t see as having a shelf life of more than a year and a half, are printed with that in mind. We put out more classic material than any publisher. We’ve had a strong, continuing Masterworks program for over 7 years now… and we’re approaching our 200th edition. Essentials are no longer considered perennials in this market, and we’ve taken our measure of those from retailers and consumers who do not order them as such, and so they are not all kept in stock as evergreen titles. Over the past eight years we’ve published nearly 100 volumes of Premiere Classic books that put some of our most popular stories from the past decades into collected editions. No other publisher has supported the amount of material that we have. There have been times when a book has been allowed to go out of press, say Secret Wars, in order for us to create a special Omnibus Edition which also allows us to gather new extras, redo files that need fixing and get the best possible re-creation available for all the pages. This process in turn allows us to then put out a better version of the paperback and keep that one in stock. We’ve talked about this process before. It would be ludicrous on many books for us to go back to press on an inferior quality book, when we know if we wait a few months we’ll be able to put forth a superior edition.

We clearly stated when we first started putting our ongoing series into smaller Premiere Hardcovers about five years ago that we did not plan for those to stay in print, nor would they be reprinted; they were an edition that went to press a little closer to the timing of the last comic of a series and they were priced slightly higher than a paperback edition in order to assist those retailers who were still enjoying sales of the comics. These volumes keep the lower priced paperback editions off the shelves for a little while longer, allowing a longer selling time for the comics.

There are a lot of factors at play here, one of which is that you just can’t take into account the needs of just one retailer, but instead you need to take a look at the overall big picture. Do we need to get Infinity War back to press when we need to make sure Civil War is still stocked? We need to make the calls on those books that are going to make both us and our retailer and book buyer partners the most money. Sometimes there will be that one book that has gone out of print for a million reasons and rather than anyone find out why they just jump to the wrong conclusions; or to make matters worse, when the rationale behind a book being out of stock is explained some folks just don’t want to hear it or accept the reasons, so they’ll start a massive campaign and create false information. Whew… hope that explains things a bit without inciting riots.

[Q:] What’s your response to retailers who say there’s a lot of demand for Marvel’s archive material that they can’t satisfy because of your book strategy?
See above. I have never heard that a retailer can’t find archival material.

Somehow, we don’t think this is going to answer all the questions. For instance, here’s a fan-created list of Marvel Premiere Hardcovers that are not in print…things like the Warren Ellis/Adi Granov Iron Man which would seem like a good print intro to a very popular character, directly influenced the movies, and was even turned into a motion comic. It’s Marvel’s business plan for this not to have a shelf life, sure, and that’s their prerogative. It just seems…odd.

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.

ReedPOP, creators and organizers of the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), as well as other major events in the popular culture world, and Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform creator of genre and pop culture content, have today announced a continuation and formalization of a relationship that successfully began at NYCC in 2011 with the launch of the exclusive WHITE SPACE B2B conference.  This new alliance provides for a wide range of strategic and cross-promotional activities that include Nerdist interviews with ReedPOP guests and a prominent role for Chris Hardwick, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Nerdist Industries, at ReedPOP shows.  Hardwick, host of AMC’s Talking Dead as well as Nerdist specials for BBC America, founded Nerdist in 2008 and has nurtured its growth into a multimedia name now spanning blogs, a podcast, television, web-video, live-events and print.  Chris will be a leading personality at NYCC, C2E2 and other ReedPOP events.  
 
Nerdist Industries will have a presence on the floor of ReedPOP shows and will be significantly featured in several panels at these same events.   Hardwick hosted The Avengers and The Walking Dead panels at NYCC in 2011, and he will emcee similar marquee content in 2012.  In addition, Nerdist and ReedPOP will continue to work together to create another WHITE SPACE B2B conference this year as well as develop several live-events, tapings and podcasts at various ReedPOP shows.     
 
“As another nerd leading a group of nerds creating nerd-centric events, I could not be more excited to welcome Chris Hardwick and Nerdist Industries to join forces with ReedPOP,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP.  “Our goal is to deliver great shows for our fans, but we also want to communicate the excitement, innovation and essential inner nerdiness of the pop culture spectrum to the world at large.  This partnership with Nerdist Industries is a win-win, providing both like-minded organizations solid ways to amplify what we do through collaborating on new opportunities for our fans, our customers and ourselves.  We’re both forces in the pop culture world, and we’re eager to see what amazing things we can accomplish together.  I look forward to working with Chris and everyone at Nerdist Industries to make this a great continuing relationship.” 

”I am THRILLED to be working with ReedPOP in an official capacity. I attended C2E2 last year, and, while still a young event, I was amazed at how well-organized and fan-friendly it was. Between C2E2, New York Comic Con and ReedPOP’s other events, this partnership makes all the sense in the world for Nerdist Industries. I know this because were we to not be in business with ReedPOP, I’d still be attending these events as a fan,” Hardwick said.
 
As noted, Hardwick’s first appearance on behalf of the joint promotional relationship with ReedPOP will be at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) which will take place April 13 – 15, 2012 in the North Building of McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL.   He is scheduled to appear as emcee for special events on Friday, April 13, and he will also be available for a public autographing session.  Specific details of his participation at the show will be posted in the near future on the C2E2 website.  Hardwick will then present a live podcast from Chicago’s Vic Theatre on Friday night.  Other guests who will be participating in C2E2 include Anthony Daniels, David Finch, Josh Gates, Adam Hughes and Joe Kubert.  Many more guest announcements will be made in the coming weeks.  For further information about these guests as well as purchasing tickets, please visit www.C2E2.com.  For more on Nerdist Industries, visit www.Nerdist.com.

Toy Fair is just around the corner – the annual gathering of all things toyetic at the Javits Center. Lots of spoilers for the SPIDER-MAN and AVENGERS films have already been inadvertently revealed through toys news in the last few weeks, so the well may be dry on that, but there is still actual toy news.

For instance, you may be excited about the Avengers movie, but once you know there will be Avengers Minimates, how much MORE excited are you? Diamond Select Toys is releasing two assortments, one exclusively available at Toys “R” Us stores and on toysrus.com, and another only at comic book shops and specialty stores. Both will be out in late April/early May.

Here are the lineups:

Marvel Minimates – The Avengers Movie (Toys “R” Us/toysrus.com)
- Captain America & Thor
- Iron Man MK7 & Hulk
- Hawkeye & Black Widow (exclusive)
- Loki & Nick Fury (exclusive)

Marvel Minimates Wave 45 (Specialty stores/comic shops)
- Captain America & Thor
- Iron Man MK7 & Hulk
- REDACTED & REDACTED (exclusive)
- Maria Hill & REDACTED (short-packed exclusive)

If you’ve been following previous toy spoilers, you might have some idea who these REDACTED villains are, but one of them could be a CRIMSON SKELETON.

Also upcoming from Diamond Select Toys, a big green Hulk that towers above his 7-inch toy teammates. (When we said gigantic we were talking scale, people.) Standing 8.25 inches tall, this Hulk is big and aggressive, as you all saw in the new trailer, and includes 16 points of articulation for what the PR calls “a full range of smashing.”

Over the weekend, Tom Spurgeon spotlighted the return of two old school members to the Fantagraphics mansion with Mike Catron and Preston White joining as editor and designer, respectively. Catron is actually the co-founder of Fantagraphics, going back to the Virginia/Connecticut origins of the company as The Nostalgia Journal. White (who was known as “Peppy” in the olden days) was a designer for many of the seminal ’80s publications.

Although the hirings are notable in and of themselves, in an interview with Catron, the element of Catron’s life we’re most concerned with is briefly mentioned:

SPURGEON: I and others have seen you in recent years making tapes of some of the panels at conventions, I believe particularly those focused on older cartoonists. What led you to do that? Do you have plans for that material? Are there one or two panels or even moments that you’ve caught with which you’re particularly happy?

CATRON: What led me to start videotaping panels at comics conventions was that I didn’t see anyone else doing it. Here were all these important figures from the history of comics answering all sorts of questions and providing a wealth of detail about our comics heritage and it was all just being written on the wind. I started taping as a way of preserving as much as I could of that for myself and future generations. As for plans for that material, I have nothing currently in the works. Ultimately, I would like to find a useful way to share it. There are lots of moments that I’m very glad I caught on tape, including some quite emotional ones. Lots of funny stuff, too. Someday.

Catron is indeed that red-headed guy you have seen countless times taping comic book panels at various shows across the nation for more than 20 years. We’ve had many conversations with him about those tapes—they are one of the great priceless, irreplaceable treasures of comics history. Catron hasn’t been able to do much with them due to permissions and the like—presumably a lot of those are missing—and the collection isn’t that organized. We suggested getting some kids in from SVA or wherever to at least try to catalog them. Since Catron has moved to the West Coast, that might not be so easy now.

Hopefully that “someday” will come…someday.

Have you been wondering what digital comics DC has been selling the most of? While you can do a running snapshot of iTunes’ “in app Sales” it doesn’t give you a month’s total. But, as they did last month, DC has just released their Top Ten digital comics for January to CBR. And it goes like this:

DC Comics’ Top 10 Digital Titles, January 2011

#1 Batman (2011-) #5
#2 Justice League (2011-) #5
#3 Action Comics (2011-) #5
#4 Detective Comics (2011-) #5
#5 Green Lantern (2011-) #5
#6 Batman and Robin (2011-) #5
#7 Batman (2011-) #4
#8 Justice League (2011-) #4
#9 Superman (2011-) #5
#10 Aquaman (2011-) #5

So—new comics holding steady.

Of course this chart lacks actual numbers. But perhaps we can extrapolate a little teeny bit here — in a December interview, DC’s John Rood suggested that
But consistency is the right word — especially consistency in the digital end. There has been no shake up of numbers when you look at the percentage of physical sales by title. So if something is selling 6% of its physical sales digitally for issues #1 and 2, then it’s about 6% in issues #3 and 4. And if another title has been selling at 16% of print sales in the early titles, the latter titles have stayed at the same level. So there’s been no fluctuation. And the fact is that the makeup is largely the same and the performances you’ve seen in the data provided is largely the same in digital as it is in physical, yet we know from both anecdotal and primary research that this is a different audience. It suggests that the people might be different [for digital and print] but their tastes and their demos are largely the same.
6% and 16% seem like awfully specific numbers. So perhaps we can except that digital sales are someone between those number as percentage of print sales?

That’s a LOT more than the 1-3% that we’ve previously heard from most publishers. Again, only guessing.

Rood and Bob Wayne have their usual chat in this month’s report, and a subject near and dear to our heart comes up:
People frequently ask – and sometimes this is other people in the industry while sometimes it’s retailers or fans – whether these

numbers on the Diamond charts are the same numbers that actually sell. The argument there is that with returnability and the fact that these are estimates rather than the actual data you have, these numbers may inflate performance. Overall, do you feel this data honestly represents what you’ve been getting back when all is said and done?

Wayne: The Diamond charts for a number of years – ever since we started doing very limited returnability offers on certain projects to retailers could make sure they’re able to stock things like the weekly “52″ project a number of years back – have done a set aside on the numbers in reserve against any returns. So the numbers are depressed on the side of the set asides. We know what the set aside is, and we also then have our data later that shows us what the actual return rate was. And we’ve been very pleased that this has been an effective and efficient way for us to get as many copies on the shelves of retailers around the world as possible. In that ten out of ten, only one of those ten titles on the chart has any level of returnability. Nine of them have none.

Rood: So in answer to your question, not only do we consider the list accurate and reflective of our sales, we think anyone who would question that is kidding themselves.

Burn!

Rokuro Taniushi is a Japanese illustrator of the ’50s on who has been called “the kawaii Norman Rockwell of Japan” for painting some 1300 covers for the influential weekly magazine Shukan Shincho. Kawaii is the “cute” style of Japanese art, seen and deconstructed in everything from Hello Kitty to Murakami.

For more art, go to 50 Watts.

[Via Tim Hodler]

By Todd Allen

*Update* DC has revised their website to list Tieri and Poulton as scripters.

————-

Change is still in the air at DC.  You may recall Rob Liefeld got three new books?  We now know his collaborators on those.

Deathstroke with be a solo endeavor for Liefeld.  On Grifter, Rob is joined by Frank Tieri as co-writer scripter.  Tieri, another blast from the past, is probably most strongly associated with early Quesada-era Marvel, working on titles like Wolverine, Weapon X and Iron Man.  He also has done some DC work on titles like Batman and the Outsiders and Gotham Underground.  Over on Savage Hawkman, Mark Poulton is the co-writer scripter and Joe Bennett is the artist.  Poulton has recently been working on Liefeld’s Avengelyne title over at Image.  Bennett moves over from Deathstroke.  Interestingly, way back in the 90s, Bennett drew a few issue’s of Liefeld’s Supreme comic.

Next up, we have the next arc for DC Universe Presents:

Following the conclusion of the science-fiction based CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN, the new story arc begins when the nation’s best FBI profiler, Kass Sage, must reach out to her father for help in solving a desperate case. The twist? Her father is the imprisoned serial killer, Vandal Savage.

Writing this three-part story will be James Robinson, the acclaimed writer of STARMAN, THE SHADE and the upcoming EARTH 2. And illustrating the book will be the artist of DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS’ premiere story arc (starring Deadman), Bernard Chang.

“I’m absolutely jazzed to be working with one of my favorite writers, James Robinson, again,” Chang exclusively told THE SOURCE. “Along with the rest of the superb crew of DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS – cover artist Ryan Sook and editors Eddie Berganza and Wil Moss. I really enjoy telling stories of substance and character, so I’m planning on taking what we did well during the Deadman arc (with Paul Jenkins) and adding even more Tabasco sauce. We’re taking it to the next level!”

Please note that the actual title of this arc is not mentioned.  The Silence of the Lambs riff is definitely there.  Especially since there have been cannibalism references around Savage in the past.  The last time we saw a Savage daughter running around the DC, it was Scandal Savage over in Secret Six.  Does Scandal exist in the New 52 universe?  Is this her?  Is this her replacement?  Is the daughter the star or is the father?

This is an announcement that leaves more questions than answers.  Still, James Robinson and Bernard Chang is not a bad lineup and Robinson is on a legacy character, which is one of his sweet spots.  Of course that also raises the question of whether this is Earth-2 related or not.

Finally, artist Marcus To is moving to Batwing after wrapping up the Huntress mini-series.  Just in time for the “Night of the Owls” Event, he starts with issue #9.

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.

Known as either the gorilla in the room, the great monopoly, or just the only way to get your comics, Diamond is definitely one of the biggest entities in the comics world, and although they do have a monopoly on selling periodicals into comics shops, they are, as many have observed, fairly benign as monopolies go. And yeah, I know there will be a zillion dissents in the comics (as there should be), but the job they do serving thousands of outlets in a timely, efficient manner is still very impressive. And I know from my own personal experience that the executives who run Diamond are not hardened bean counters, but men and women who really care about the industry they work in.

Courtesy of Diamond itself, here’s a timeline for the company and archival material of founder/owner President & CEO Steve Geppi and Executive Vice President and COO Chuck Parker.

“From day one, Diamond has proudly delivered the best possible service to our customers,” said Geppi in a statement. “Our ability to fulfill that commitment to great service reflects the dedication of everyone who is, and ever has been, part of the Diamond team. Their accomplishments seem, appropriately enough, superhuman when you realize that they’ve been doing this for three decades. I am deeply grateful to all of them for their hard work, and I am honored to work alongside them.”

“Steve Geppi has long been synonymous with comic book distribution,” said Parker in his own statement. “Our recognition of this special milestone reminds us of his accomplishments, and those of thousands of Diamond employees over the past 30 years who have worked to make this company an innovative industry leader. Long ago, Steve had a vision of growth and professionalism for the comic industry and has worked his entire adult life to make his vision a reality. His enthusiasm and passion for comic books and pop culture in general, coupled with a retailer’s background, gave Steve a unique and insightful appreciation of what a successful distributor must do in order to achieve.”

Diamond takes part in many of comic’s most important charities and causes. “We’ve used our PREVIEWS catalog and our Retailer Summits to generate awareness and funds for such worthy causes as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Hero Initiative, the Xeric Foundation, ProLiteracy, the American Red Cross and many others,” said Parker. “We’ve also utilized our resources to assist retail customers in areas stricken by natural disasters to ensure that they get their shipments in a timely fashion and to provide counsel and strategies to customers facing financial challenges.

“Plus, Diamond serves as the central support for Free Comic Book Day and vigorously sponsors such industry-wide events as the Eisner, Harvey, and Joe Shuster Awards. Everyone at Diamond is honored to be associated with all of these organizations, and we hope that our involvement will continue to benefit them in the future.”

THE DIAMOND TIMELINE

1973
• While working as an USPS letter carrier, future Diamond President and CEO Steve Geppi buys his first comic book price guide, and realizes his long-standing hobby of collecting comics could become a profitable undertaking.

1974
• Geppi leaves the USPS to open his first store, Geppi’s Comic World, which operated out of the basement of a TV repair shop.

1982
• With the support of fellow retailers, Geppi founds Diamond Comic Distributors with one warehouse and 17 retail customers.
• Diamond takes over operations of New Media Irjax’s Boston and Tampa Distribution Centers.


1988
• Diamond establishes a national presence with the acquisition of Bud Plant.
• Diamond’s monthly PREVIEWS catalog begins to evolve from a simple title-listing to the “industry bible” it is today.

1990
• Diamond acquires selected assets of Seattle based distributor Destiny Distribution and takes over the operations of Oregon’s Second Genesis.

1991
• Diamond UK, Ltd. begins operations in the U.K., leading to the acquisition of England based distributor Pacific Distribution, Ltd.

1992
• Diamond’s Star System, which will evolve into the PREVIEWS Backlist Service, begins operation, allowing retailers access to quick-shipping of over 8,000 graphic novels and backlist products.

1993
• Diamond acquires England-based Titan Distributors Ltd., consolidates U.K. operations and becomes Diamond Comic Distributors (UK).

1994
• Diamond acquires selected assets of New York-based distributor Comics Unlimited, Ltd.
• The Reorder Universe, which will ultimately evolve into Diamond’s massive inventory hub, opens.

1995
• Reflecting significant changes in the comic industry, Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics and Image Comics choose Diamond to be their exclusive sales agent to comic specialty retailers.

1996
• Diamond acquires selected assets of its largest competitor, Capital City Distribution.
• Diamond launches the toll-free Comic Shop Locator Service.

1997
• Marvel Comics signs an exclusive agreement with Diamond to service specialty market retailers.
• Diamond introduces “One Call Does It All” centralized, personalized customer service, as well as its Order Adjustment program.

1998
• Diamond Online’s Retailer Services Area, the forerunner of today’s Retailer Services Website, goes live.

1999
• Diamond’s Vendor Services Website opens.

2000 
• The selected assets and liabilities of Alliance Games Distribution are purchased, and Alliance Game Distributors becomes a major operating division of Diamond.
• Online Ordering becomes available on Diamond’s Retailer Services Website. 
• The Diamond Bookshelf offers librarians, teachers, and other education professionals information on how comics and graphic novels can become a dynamic and positive addition to classrooms and libraries. 

2001
• Diamond and Alliance start a new industry tradition with their annual Retailer Summits. 
• Through Alliance, certain assets of west coast distributors Berkeley Distributors and Barchetta Distribution are acquired, giving Alliance a strong national presence.
• Previews on Windows joins Diamond’s roster of online ordering tools.
• Diamond’s Retailer Services Website expands with the addition of Reorders Online. 

2002
• Diamond teams with retailers and publishers for the first Free Comic Book Day, designed to attract new customers to comic shops and expose them to what comics has to offer.
• The Diamond Daily e-newsletter begins delivering daily news, product information, sales, and more. 
• Diamond Book Distributors is founded to service the growing demand for comics and graphic novels in the book trade.

2004
• The Comic Shop Locator Service gets a new online home: comicshoplocator.com.
• The first Final Order Cut-off Form is posted on Diamond’s Retailer Services Website, allowing retailers to place orders up until the publisher sets its print run.

2005
• Diamond opens its Memphis Distribution Center


• 

2007
• Diamond’s ComicSuite Point-of-Sale software is announced.

2008
• PREVIEWS catalog celebrates 20 years of “the Comic Shop’s Catalog.”
• PREVIEWSWorld.com debuts on the web.
• Diamond’s Olive Branch Distribution Center opens with 600,000 square feet of space and a state-of-the-art Warehouse Management System.

2009
• Diamond upgrades Retailer Services Website with better news and product detail information.

2010
• Diamond launches kidscomics.com to direct young readers and their parents to kid-friendly comic shops across the United States and Canada.

2011 
• Diamond launches Day-Early Delivery.

2012
• Diamond hires industry veteran Chris Powell as Executive Director of Business Development to oversee the company’s efforts to expand the comic book specialty market.
• Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc marks 30 years of service to retailers, vendors, and consumers worldwide.


BLACKSAD by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido is a famous comic in Europe, but the recent Dark Horse collection has created an American audience, as well: there are more than 20,000 copies of the book in print and a fourth printing is planned. Blacksad’s success isn’t horribly puzzling: a stylish noir storyline by Canales, and some of the most gorgeous anthropomorphic art ever by Guarnido make the tale universal. And the US setting doesn’t hurt.

Blacksad is back with a new adventure from Dark Horse: BLACKSAD: A SILENT HELL, due in July. The story takes panther-headed detective John Blacksad to New Orleans in the ’50s to discover the fate of a celebrated pianist. Drugs, voodoo, the rollicking atmosphere of Mardi Gras, and danger await him. The book includes two never before reprinted Blacksad short stories, and an extensive making-of section, with preliminary sketches and watercolor studies, written by Eisner Award-winner Guarnido.

By Todd Allen

In the 4th “New 52″ writer shuffle of the week, DC has announced Gregg Hurwitz as the new writer for Batman: The Dark Knight, as of issue #10.  I suspect they really mean co-writer on that, as I’m under the impression artist David Finch, for whom the title was created pre-relaunch, has a pretty good amount of input on the plot.  Hurwitz has been around comics for 3-4 years.  He started out at Marvel doing stints with Foolkiller, Punisher, Moon Knight and Wolverine.  More recently, DC’s had him on the Penguin: Pain and Prejudice mini-series.  Of course, comics are Hurwitz’s secret identity.  The rest of the world knows him as a mild-mannered writer of bestselling prose novels in the thriller category.  (Yes, that Alex Alonso fellow does love recruiting crime writers to comics.)

No word yet on what previous writer, Paul Jenkins, is up to next.

Hurwitz’s statement of intentions:

“Okay. So this is the job I’ve been waiting to get since I was eight years old. I’m thrilled to be tackling one of the world’s greatest characters with one of the industry’s greatest artists,” said Hurwitz on his upcoming run on BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT. “Finch and I are very fired up to take the Batman into dark and dangerous new terrain, presenting a story that’ll be epic and sweeping and juuust a little bit twisted. We’re gonna see a cornerstone villain from a whole new angle, too. I’ve always been fascinated by Jonathan Crane—not just what makes him tick, but what could have happened in his past to make him obsessed with fear at the expense of all else. And perhaps that particular obsession isn’t so different from the demons that drive the Dark Knight. As I discovered when writing Penguin: Pain and Prejudice—Batman fits uniquely with the villains in his rogue’s gallery. They are two sides of the same coin, yin and yang, ego and shadow. But in some cases, maybe the match is even closer. Maybe instead of ego and shadow, it’s shadow and shadow. Maybe when Batman looks in the mirror, the Scarecrow’s face is looking out. We’re used to Batman teaching his villains a lesson, but this time the Scarecrow might have something to teach Batman, too. Right now, I’m knee deep in straw and burlap, trying to stitch together a tale I hope you’ll find familiar yet new, a twist on a classic. It’s gonna get bumpy and scary and bit unhinged, so buckle up for the ride.”

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.

The payout to Mr. Choe, the graffiti artist, could provide more money from his paintings than Sotheby’s attracted for its record-breaking $200.7 million auction in 2008 for work by Damien Hirst. In 2005, Mr. Choe was invited to paint murals on the walls of Facebook’s first offices in Palo Alto, Calif., by Sean Parker, then Facebook’s president. As pay, Mr. Parker offered Mr. Choe a choice between cash in the “thousands of dollars,” according to several people who know Mr. Choe, or stock then worth about the same. Mr. Choe, who has said that at the time that he thought the idea of Facebook was “ridiculous and pointless,” nevertheless chose the stock. Many “advisers” to the company at that time, which is how Mr. Choe would have been classified, would have received about 0.1 to 0.25 percent of the company, according to a former Facebook employee. That may sound like a paltry amount, but a stake that size is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, based on a market value of $100 billion. Mr. Choe’s payment is valued at roughly $200 million, according to a number of people who know Mr. Choe and Facebook executives.

Mr. Choe’s page on Facebook shows the life of a modern-day renegade artist. Among the images of his graffiti, there is a trail of images of him partying with scantily clad women and spending large amounts of money on alcohol. In recent weeks, Mr. Choe promoted photos of a $40,000 bottle of alcohol; a single shot, he boasted, costs $888.

Choe has a blog post up at his website with images and videos of the murals and the making of them. We’d advise anyone about to engage in wrist slitting over this story consider the obverse: not that someone got a huge payout for just one job, but that such a payout is POSSIBLE if the stars align.

Anyway, godspeed to Mr. Choe. May he not spend all his loot in one place.

The recently concluded Angoulême comics festival is the most respected comics event in the world, but also one a bit remote from the daily comics grind of the average American reader. Two con reports will bring you up to speed in a hurry. Before we link, one note: I wrote earlier that crowds were reported as smaller this year, but the overwhelming evidence is that the festival was packed, as usual, with official attendance given as 215,000.

Okay, links! D&Q’s associate publisher Peggy Burns has posted a delightful travelogue, emblematic of both the heritage of delightful travelogues published at the D&Q blog and also the kind of happy miasma—respectful signings, tents running riot with the flower of world cartooning, afternoon wanderings through a medieval village and late nights of drinking and talking with the greatest living minds of comics—that those of us who have never been will always imagine the festival to be. There was also some business:

I am invited to Angoulême on a program that brings North American publishers to the festival to promote the rights sales of french comics. And it works. Last year, we bought several titles and became enamoured with Anouk Ricard. The program strives to invite a variety of publishers and this year I was joined by Image Comics‘ Todd Martinez, Lerner Publishing Carol Burrell, our incredible host Ivanka Hahnenberger of VIP Brands and Abrams Comic Art (and former coworker of mine from DC Comics) Charlie Kochman (and the aforementioned Mark Smylie and the not pictured Alex Bowler of Random House). All of us spend Thursday and Friday in back to back meetings from 9 am-7 pm with french publishers looking for the next Persepolis books to buy.

Is there no program to invite bloggers? Looking at Peggy’s photos, I can only be wracked by the sobs of abject jealousy.

For a different view, Matthias Wivel wraps up his TCJ coverage with the kind of informed and frank analysis we need more of. Well, it seems informed from where we sit, anyway—Wivel is far mroe knowledgeable about the state of Eurocomix than we. Wivel suggests that, although still an idyll of comics artistry, the festival is driven by its own focus on a certain period of cartooning and cartoonists that would be updated and expanded—this year’s festival president Art Spiegelman being an example of a broader vision that enriched the experience:

This year’s festival at Angoulême was a success, both in terms of popular interest and artistic quality. There are no two ways about it. Its director Franck Bondoux reported more than 215,000 guests over the weekend, up somewhat from previous years, and Saturday especially was close to overcrowded, with the main tents temporarily having to close their doors to manage the influx. At the same time, festival president Art Spiegelman not only (co-)curated two extraordinary shows, but also brought a lot of international interest, tempering the francophone myopia that has long plagued the festival (and which I addressed in last year’s report). On the balance, I would call him the best president of the last decade, presiding over one of the best festivals in that same period.

Yet problems persist and one is tempted to see them exemplified by this year’s Grand Prix winner, Jean-Claude Denis, who will preside over next year’s fortieth anniversary. It is not that the Angoulême academy of past Grand Prix winners, which selected Denis, has all that much say in the planning and execution of festival, but their selection of what is arguably the highest honor formally bestowed on comics makers worldwide is still strongly symbolic, and the president each year has a unique chance to shape its artistic direction and eventually to point the way forward as part of the academy that chooses his or her successors.

We’ve mentioned a few times here a lawsuit for copyright infringement by DC against an outfit called Gotham Garage, which sells replica Batmobiles—based on the ’60s Batman TV show in particular—as well as other vehicles based on famed fantasy cars, like the Mach Five.

If you were thinking of buying one, better hurry, because a judge has ruled that the Batmobile is subject to copyright.

Well of course it is, you may be saying. But that’s not actually the usual legal thinking. A car design is subject to trademark but not copyright. Gotham Garage owner Mark Towles argued that the Copyright Act can’t be extended to “useful articles” like a car. But the judge ruled that….the Batmobile isn’t really that useful, so that argument ran out of gas on the way back to the Batcave.

The judge ruled that Towles “ignores the exception to the ‘useful article’ rule, which grants copyright protection to nonfunctional, artistic elements of an automobile design that can be physically or conceptually separated from the automobile.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a can of worms has been set loose by this ruling and other similar recent cases where copyright and ordinary use run afoul:

The copyrightability of designs has been a hot topic of late in courts. Could Batman’s costume be copyrighted? A lawsuit claiming copyright infringement in superhero costumes was settled in December before a judge gave a firm answer. Could Batman’s furnished dark cave hideaway be copyrighted? Hard to say for sure, but a judge rejected earlier this month a claim that furniture designs met the standard for being conceptually separable from their utilitarian purposes.

In other words, just because a chair is made to fit the expanding American butt, it isn’t just utilitarian, it’s designed…and maybe copyrightable.

Our legal knowledge being limited, we’re going to just shut up and yell, “Hey Jeff Trexler!”

UPDATE: Okay Maybe we don’t need Jeff Trexler. After looking at the court docs, it doesn’t look like this case has been settled one way or another—the judge has ruled against Towle’s motion to dismiss, but the most recent filing is not a definitive ruling.

Here’s the original complaint:

and the most recent motion:

Yes, The Beat is two years old today as its own standalone website. Woot. And we’re celebrating just as we always do—slaving away into the wee hours of the day so you have something to read with your coffee.

Oh yeah, we also changed the background just for the day—yes, it’s awful, but it’s our blog and we’ll be tacky if we want to.

What has the past year brought behind the scenes? After webhosting travails, we’ve mostly settled down. A brief experiment into something called Cloudflare led to constant site outages and spam attacks. Installing Bad Behavior (and ditching Cloudflare) mostly solved that.

In fact, running The Beat was very stable over the last 12 months…TOO stable! Nothing on the internet lasts that long. “Blogging” is way harder than it used to be—some say it’s passé. For some reason, I like running a website more than posting Facebook status updates, however, so I’ll stick around for a while yet.

One thing that has improved vastly over the year has been content from our fine contributors. Todd Allen has been kicking it for the last couple of months. Tireless Torsten Adair has been posting his weekend previews and essays—you did read his heartbreaking piece on Gary Friedrich, didn’t you?—and Bruce Lidl, Jen Vaughn and, of course, the Sales Chart team of Paul, Marc-Oliver and Paul, have been doing yeoman work. They’re all awesome—please buy them a drink when you get a chance, okay? A presence behind the scenes is Synsidar who copyedits some of my more egregious typos. (I know it’s hard to believe this blog has a copy editor sometimes, but his schedule doesn’t allow him to do it before posting, alas.)

Of course, we couldn’t do it—REALLY—without our great sponsors: CCI, ReedPop, Sailor Twain, Threadless, Comicraft, Top Shelf and all the rest.

So what’s coming up? A redesign is gently bubbling under the surface. More contributors. More interviews. More Vietnamese coffee. In July it will be my ten-YEAR anniversary of running a daily website. We’ll have something special planned for that…maybe a vacation.

Biggest thanks of all go to you, the Beat Elite Reading Squad. Every night before I go to bed I check Sitemeter and, against all logic, people actually came and read this blog. It still blows me away. And it is much appreciated.

As far as the future goes, what do YOU want, gentle readers? Let us know in the comments. We’ll be here, as always.