It’s a brand new day here at Stately Beat Manor! We’re rested and refreshed, and based on past refreshments, this state will last well into the early hours of the morning.
§This year, Bully is spotlighting 366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth. If he could do it with the Warriors Three, he can do it with anyone.
§ Esteemed, award winning letterer Todd Klein reads a digital comic: And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 1 (on my phone!) and did not die or faint, or anything.
§ Robot 6 went on a birthday rampage of content, with interviews and previews galore. Just click on the last few days of links and you’ll find everyone from Tom Brevoort to Jason Leivian to Diane Noomin. However, for an epigram, we’ll stick with quotable Image publisher Eric Stephenson:
So that’s the challenge. And it’s a big challenge, but our goal at Image, going into 2012, is to remind everyone that creativity is the lifeblood of this industry. Creativity gave us Superman. It gave us Batman. It gave us The Spirit. The Fantastic Four. Spider-Man. Cerebus. Maus. Watchmen. Sandman. Sin City. Spawn. Savage Dragon. Hellboy. Bone. Stray Bullets. The Invisibles. Transmetropolitan. Y: The Last Man. The Walking Dead. Scott Pilgrim. The Umbrella Academy. Kick Ass. Every great success this industry has ever known is the result of creativity.
§ Okay, one more from Robot 6 — this interview with David Steinberger of comiXology — Steinberger does a lot of press, but
Brigid Alverson asks everything you wanted asked, including how raising prices sometimes spurs sales:
Steinberger: I think that there is a perceived value issue. If you throw everything at 99 cents, the perceived value is very low. We have had instances where we move comics from 99 cents to $1.99 and we sell more units, so the price is an indicator to the consumer that this is a valuable thing. This is not the standard, but we have examples of that happening.
§ Over the holiday, we had a hot tip that Spider-Man would be involved with the Times Square New Year’s Eve — what happened is that the cast of the Broadway Spider-Man show crossed over with Anderson Cooper and yet Cooper somehow did not get hit on the head or break his fibula. So–a success to start the new year!
§ A few year-end pieces that were of some interest. Newsarama pegged The Top 10 Comic Book TRENDS of 2011 , in a piece which completely left out the indie, book, digital and manga worlds. So top 10 trends of SUPERHERO COMICS, but okay:
The repercussions of [DC’s relaunch] will be felt for years, and readers will likely be debating the merits of the headline-grabbing decision for many tweets to come. Yet as big of news as that was, it was actually one of several reboots and relaunches seen in 2011 — and the undeniable early sales success of The New 52 could certainly mean there might be more to come in the future. Other major trends comic book industry trends in 2011 include an increased importance placed by publishers on digital comics, a continued rise in the use of teaser images, ’90s nostalgia and a widespread change to long-held format standards for single issues.
§ Sean T. Collins made a very strong case for his 20 Best Comics of 2011.
§ DC Women Kicking Ass rounds up a year of complaints.
§ Over the weekend, there was yet another leak of WATCHMEN 2 concept art, this time a Silk Spectre piece by Amanda Conner. All have been legally enjoined from posting it, but it was very cute.
Uh.. Newsarama did mention Kickstarter (indie funding) and simultaneous shipping of digital with paper. Or maybe, to get all no-prizey, they really did mean “comic books” and not “comics” or “graphic novels”.
Wow. That Silk Spectre is young and a bit unsure. Well done!
On Sean’s list, Ganges should be #2.