Kibbles ‘n’ Bits 3/25/14: I snuck in some news here. Also snuck isn’t a real word.

So: Marvel makes up less than a 1/4 of my March Previews order, DC makes up less that 1/25th! Wow. These are just NUMBERS people but… wow

— Menachem Luchins (@EscapePodComics) March 25, 2014

10,000 Elyria students receive free comic books
§ One more comment from Long Island retailer Escape Pod Comics, on yesterday’s post on comics sales and the Big Two.

§ I’m sure you’ve all read Steve Morris’s report on the upcoming Spider-Man thinger, but if you’re confused about which Spider-Man is which, this may help.

§ The new issue of Comics Workbook Magazine #3 is out from Copacetic Comics:

Comics Workbook Magazine #3 Frank Santoro, Andrew White, Zach Mason, Dash Shaw, Marissa Paternoster, Laura Knetzger, Annie Mok, Ed Luce published by Comics Workbook This issue features Dash Shaw in conversation with Frank Santoro at SPX 2013 (transcribed by Andrew White), essays on Nancy by Dorothy Berry, interviews with Annie Mok and Ed Luce by Zach Mason, an essay on the comics of Marissa Paternoster by Brandon Soderberg, and an essay on sexual assault themes by Laura Knetzger. The cover was drawn by Dash Shaw.

§ Aw Yeah Comics is doing a book with wrestling sensation Christopher Daniels. More art in the link:

On a recent episode of the Let’s Talk Comics Podcast, TNA wrestler and self-professed comics fan Christopher Daniels announced his partnership with “Tiny Titans” co-creator C2E2 2014. The issue will feature the main story by Daniels and Baltazar, as well as pin-ups by Kazarian, Denver Brubaker and Scott McMahon, and a back-up story by Franco. Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are a tag-team known as Bad Influence in the world of TNA Wrestling. Daniels has won fifteen total championships between TNA and Ring of Honor, and is a longtime comic fan, making his first bid as a comics creator with “Christopher Daniels and Kazarian Wrestling Aw Yeah Comics!” He also appeared in a CBR TV at Comic-Con International 2009 with former 20th Century Fox VP of Production Jeff Katz to discuss Katz’s American Original Entertainment.

§ Also at CBR, an interview with UK comics vet Oscar Zarate about his new book, The Park:

Oscar Zarate: The characters come to me in different ways, and at different times. Some of them had lived with me for a long time, waiting for the right story. Around four years ago, the idea of a scenario in a park came to me. That was the precise moment everything started to connect with each other — the park, the characters and the story. I believe stories come to fruition in their own time, they need to grow slowly and organically, the characters need time to find their own voices.

§ AND another CBR link as Monkeybrain’s Allison Baker discusses the way comics companies compete and the matter of the day:

What strikes me as significant is not that DC and Marvel are absent from Bookscan’s Top 20 in February, but that the list is made up of kinds of books DC and Marvel don’t publish in any great number. So the case could be made that if DC and Marvel had avenues to publish a greater variety of material with a focus to reach new audiences, the entire comics market could expand. More books for kids, more all-ages titles, both corporate and creator-owned. Creating more in general that doesn’t completely focus on existing characters and continuity. Creating a bigger, much healthier pie chart. I know I’d much rather make a bigger pie then take someone else’s piece. Besides, I like thinking we are all on the same team. Team Comics. And I like to win.

§ Area Man headline of the day: Shropshire fans queue up to meet comic book legend Charlie Adlard. While he doesn’t have quite the notoriety of his Walking Dead collaborator Robert Kirkman, Adlard is not exactly chopped liver:

“It’s nice to be living here in Shropshire away from the mania in LA. I don’t feel like I’m part of this huge phenomenon. “At a signing in New York recently I had to have security to control the queue because there were so many people there. I love getting out and meeting the fans.”

§ Rob Salkowitz previews this year’s Emerald City Comic Con which is ALREADY SOLD OUT, and will feature a Ted Talk-type digital comics conference organized by Salkowitz.

It’s also my hometown show, one I’ve attended each year from the first (in the modest surroundings of the Qwest Field Plaza) to the most recent, when a year-to-year attendance jump of more than 10,000 exposed some noticeable growing pains. This year, ECCC has maxed out its venue, the two-block, four-story Washington State Convention Center, increased the size of the exhibit hall, and added new programming tracks, celebrity appearances and multimedia events, although organizers insist it remains a comics show at its core.

§ A nice set of photos of Richard Thompson enjoying the opening night of the Billy Ireland Thompson/Watterson art opening.

§ And Michael Cavna chats to both Thompson and Bill Watterson about the exhibit

“I think the show is stunning,” Watterson, who ended his legendary strip in 1995, told Comic Riffs. The museum’s “Jenny Robb curated the ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ part of the exhibition, and she went through my work and organized a thoughtful, beautiful display with depth and variety. “I didn’t know what she would pick or how it would all pull together,” Watterson continued, “so walking into the room, I was quite touched to see this huge, lovely show. I’m immensely honored.”

§ Can we all give Jenny Robb and Caitlin McGurk a big round of applause? Also can I learn to spell their names right? =(

§ As you all may know, I watch American Idol, just because I can. This year Harry Connick Jr. has joined the judges, which I love because he’s an actual musician and really gives musicianly observations, with talk about tonics and chord structures and what not. Unfortunately, his terrifying advice about craft seems to have stymied this year’s contestants as they are losing confidence week by week. In the immortal words of Wild Man Fischer, it’s a tough business. ANYWAY, watching Harry Connick Jr. give advice I keep getting reminded of…Dean Haspiel! They both have a similar manner of delivery and patois, despite one being from New Orleans and one from New York City. ANYHOO, I was reminded of this by advice to an artistic teen penned by Haspiel.Just imagine it being delivered by Harry Connick Jr. Same thing!

“They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I believe that to be true for the modern cartoonist. A plethora of history books, comic-cons, expos, libraries, galleries, comics shop signings, studios and the web have made it super-easy to read, educate and meet the people who make comics and personally experiment the art form in the confines of your home.

§ A nice overview of how Boom has used webcomics creators on their kids books with happy results:

For their comics of ongoing Cartoon Network series like Adventure Time and Regular Show, BOOM! has actively sought out prolific webcomics names. Writers like Meredith Gran, Danielle Corsetto, and Kate Leth have all written Adventure Time miniseries and graphic novels; many more contributed back-up stories and variant covers. It’s a strategy that seems to be mutually beneficial. Ryan North, creator of Dinosaur Comics and To Be or Not To Be: That is the Adventure, is also the writer of the Adventure Time ongoing series. He describes BOOM! and Cartoon Network as being comparatively relaxed about his use of the characters in the series.

§ Bad Marvel printing of the 80s.

§ Bizenghast, the long ago but excellent OEL manga by M. Alice LeGrowis attempting to Kickstart a video game.

§ FINALLY, the new Love and Rockets Collection will spotlight Gilbert Hernandez with his post-Vol. 1 run.