Graphic Details: A Career Unexpected
I intend to use this as a way to chronicle my experiences in the industry and to discuss the growth of graphic novels over the past dozen years, including examining where they’re headed in today’s market. I’ll map out the journey, the struggle, and the ups and downs of how some very dedicated (and often unsung) people worked their asses off to expand the reach of this medium and get it to where it is today. I will have a lot to say.
Continue ReadingImage appears exclusively at ComicsPRO
With convention season revving up, retailer meeting season is also gathering steam. First up: the annual ComicsPRO meeting, this year in Memphis, TN, on March 24-27th. ComicsPRO is a trade organization for comic book retailers. This year, it was just announced, Image Comics will be making its only retailer show appearance at ComicsPRO with a [...]
Continue ReadingReminder: Rory Root Tribute
Just as a reminder, this panel on Friday is a must attend: Remembering Rory: The Rory Root Tribute – 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Room 22 When Comic Relief owner Rory Root passed away in May, a huge void was left in the comics’ world. Please join us as we pay tribute to a man who helped [...]
Continue ReadingSelling indie comics at cons
Ben Towle wraps up Heroes Con with a detailed list of observations and he confronts what many people saw as low sales for indies at the show in a very constructive way: Smile! It’s probably a bit of a regional bias, but I definitely saw some residents of Indie Island who really gave off a [...]
Continue ReadingMore on Rory Root
§ Comic Relief, which will continue under long-time manager Todd Martinez, has a “Memories” page up to remember founder Rory Root. § Tom has a fantastic obituary up with many more memorials from comics luminaries whose lives Rory touched. One of Root’s most important endeavors was to cultivate relationships with and facilitate sales to libraries and [...]
Continue ReadingA little about Rory
Comics has lost one its great souls in Rory Root. The man seemed timeless and immortal, despite all his health issues, and also ageless, but many people are reporting he was 50. The web is filled with outpourings of grief testifying to his endless supply of generosity, wisdom and support. Words like “trust” and “help” [...]
Continue ReadingRory Root health update
Word has been spreading like wildfire this afternoon, that Rory Root, owner of Comic Relief in Berkeley, is in a coma following complications from hernia surgery. ComicsPRO has more. Difficult news today— Rory Root, owner of Berkeley CA’s (and world-famous) COMIC RELIEF, is in a coma in an Oakland CA hospital. Shown in the center of [...]
Continue ReadingMust reading: "How to get your indie book into comic shops"
Elizabeth Genco, whose graphic novel Blue was recently announced, does a lot of heavy lifting by surveying several indie friendly retailers to find out how on earth to get publicity for a lone indie book these days: The fact that Blue is in Previews doesn’t mean bupkus. There are a squillion books in Previews. The [...]
Continue ReadingFree Comic Book Day 2008 round-up
[Cartoon Via American Elf.] Retailers around the world report that Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day was a big success. Lots of kids came in, happy to be getting their free comics, potential new customers came out in large numbers, and it was a big event in and of itself. In Dearborn, MI, the Mayor even made [...]
Continue ReadingAround the blogosphere
Big BIG report over at The Comics Reporter as Bart Beaty lays smack down on David Hajdu’s THE TEN CENT PLAGUE: I read The Ten-Cent Plague with great avidity. Hajdu is a compelling storyteller, and his interviews with some of the key players at the time add important shadings to our understanding of the period. There [...]
Continue ReadingLevitz Vs Jakala round 2
We’re been behind on the regular news with all the con stuff going on, but the latest blog entry from Paul Levitz is . always worth noting. In this one Paul has many interesting points of DC history, particularly in regards to artists contracts. He also responds to some of the criticism of [...]
Continue ReadingAwards Watch: Diamond Gem Awards
Kevin Melrose has the rundown of this year’s Diamond Gem Awards: Comic Book Publisher of the Year Over 5%DC Comics Comic Book Publisher of the Year Under 5%IDW Publishing New Publisher of the YearRed 5 Comics Dark Horse, Marvel, WizKids, Upper Deck, Viz and many other publishers and products are represented in the final list. Some might wonder at [...]
Continue ReadingThe SHOCKING TRUTH!!! — Updated
Yow! You’ll never believe it but that Kinsey girl on MySpace was really a Marvel viral video campaign! The final video launched last night and shows Kinsey (played by Megan Sherlock) finding out her brother has been replaced by a Skrull. The videos were written by Marvel’s own Jim McCann and Ben Morse, and directed [...]
Continue ReadingColumns: Gender, stores, soaps
§ Kristy Valenti has the second part of her Gender and Reading Habits examination up, this time the girls are scrutinized, although more is known of their reading habits in general than comics reading habits specifically: Additionally, women read more, maintained USA Today while discussing a 2007 poll: “the median figure — with half reading more, [...]
Continue ReadingWhom DO you trust?
Rich Johnston sleuths out another Marvel viral marketing plot for SECRET INVASION, this one purportedly the MySpace video blog of a teenaged girl named Kinsey whose brother Hank is acting VERY strange. Like…an Alien in fact. Jess Lemon meets LonglyGirl15! Very clever, Marvel! Meanwhile, Marvel_b0y is widely known to be a viral plant at Marvel as [...]
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