§ A fellow whose girlfriend was interning at Disney two years ago and knew about the Marvel acquisition has been charged with insider trading after he took advantage of his knowledge to buy stocks just before the acquisition was announced — this kind of thing is illegal unless you use the popular “time travel” method of going back in time to remind yourself to invest in Widget stock or whatever. Toby Scammell, 26, may have just snooped into his GF’s BlackBerry — or maybe he just knew. Either way he made a 3000% return on his $5,465 investment.
§ Creator signs as character dies.
§ In Budapest, they can’t wait for the Green Lantern movie!
§ The suddenly comics-loving Atlantic magazine has a slideshow on how comics costumes get adapted to the screen…
Some movie makers have left their hero’s costume completely untouched. Others, perhaps uncomfortable with the bare look of skin-tight spandex, have tried to populate that space with additional armor and materials, or just stripped it all together. The results of these experiments have been truly mixed.
§ Many reactions to the WOMANTHOLOGY mini-squall yesterday, Laurenn McCubbin was not happy.
Asking these questions doesn’t make me an enemy of the cause. It doesn’t mean I do not support my fellow ladies. It means that I think if you want to do a thing & be a voice for ladies, you best have your ducks in a row. Stop being fuzzy and wishy washy and moving the goal posts. If the goal is making a book, and you get more money than you expect? MAKE A BETTER BOOK. If the goal changes because more money has been raised? BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR NEW GOALS ARE. Are you a publisher? BE A PUBLISHER. Are you a charity? BE A CHARITY THAT HAS CLEAR INTENTIONS. Stop releasing vague statements about what you maybe can do now, and oh wouldn’t this be cool? DON’T BE FLAKY. TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY.
While Geek in the City was more sympathetic
I totally understand wanting your perceived fair cut of the pie when you see huge numbers like $109,301. Except no one was promised financial compensation, regardless of how successful the Kickstarter campaign turned out. Remember, if they hadn’t hit their goal, Kickstarter would have kept the whole dang thing. Maybe the people involved in Womanthology could have written a clause that allowed for payment should the campaign reach a certain level. They didn’t. They still aren’t making a dime off this endeavor either. Since the beginning Womanthology has been about showcasing wonderful new talent, and I think they’ve been pretty transparent in their attempt. Both creatively and financially.
Breaking into comics is hard. It is quite possibly one of the hardest of the creative industries to break into. Having the opportunity to present your work, if only a single page among hundreds, is wonderful. Hell, it’s one I wish I had a chance to participate in. I know this makes me sound like your grumpy grandpa, but be happy for what you’ll soon have…
I’d actually dispute the fact that comics are hard to break into — compared to movies or theater or architecture, they are dead easy.
“Remember, if they hadn’t hit their goal, Kickstarter would have kept the whole dang thing”
That’s not the way Kickstarter works. Backers aren’t charged until the the funding period for the project ends. If the project doesn’t reach its goal, no one is charged.
I guess I’m probably better off pointing that out on Geek in the City.
yeah, kickstarter never gets a dime if it doesnt hit its goal…and not a single person pledging is ever charged.
Completely agree with McCubbin. My experience with kickstarter projects is not great, so I would love to see some definitive plans and them really take advantage.
I pledged to a book that was supposed to fund 3 issues over 3 months of dedicated work and in about 14 months I’ve only seen 3 pages and lots of wishy/washy -ness.
The biggest problem with Kickstarter is that there is no way to hold project owners accountable in any kind of way.
I’m sympathetic to the frustration a lot of creators are feeling about Womanthology being flush with cash, and I think it would be a capital idea to pay out whatever’s left over to the creators.
However, I also feel really bad for Renae De Liz, being attacked as if she planned it this way and lining her own pockets with this money. She is herself a young artist trying to make it in this industry, and as far as I’m concerned all we’re seeing is the result of a little management ignorance from a well-meaning person.
@Alexa — completely agree and that’s part of the problem with kickstarter imo. There is nothing formal that *has* to happen after a project is funded nor any good provisions for what happens when a project is overcommitted from a funding standpoint.
Maybe they could cap investment in a project and use the speed of fully committed as a way to gauge interest. Of course that dilutes the commission to kickstarter, so it will probably not happen.
And I should say also that there is no recourse for the contributors in the event that the project owner fails to fulfill the commitment.
I loved the part about the comic industry being ‘difficult to break in’ and The Beat answer is priceless!