§ Joseph Shahadi looks at sociological messages at the First Asian American Comic Con

§ Johanna wonders why Marvel isn’t selling more GNs on Amazon.

§ In India, one comics series goes far beyond being bagged and boarded:

What McLain repeatedly heard from ACK readers is that the comic books seemed to almost radiate a spiritual force. In many households, other comics were seen as a waste of time and discarded, but ACK was preserved carefully. Grandmothers covered them with those brown wrappers used to cover school textbooks to keep them clean. Nieces and nephews inherited bound volumes from uncles and aunts. Some even confessed to seeing the images of the gods and goddesses as pictured in the comics when they closed their eyes to worship.


Link via Bleeding Cool, and you should probably just read that whole post.

§ We missed the announcement of a Chris Ryall-penned Bat Boy comic, but we won’t miss it when it comes out!

§ NY Times writer Peggy Orenstein goes shopping for her young daughter:

Although I know little about the character, here was a stage I could get with. I trolled eBay for Supergirl lunch boxes, Spider-Woman action figures, even a Wonder Woman Barbie. Yes, superheroines have the proportions of Lady Gaga — more mammary than muscle — which is definitely unnerving, but I was willing to overlook that for now. Besides, I rationalized, who can blame a superheroine for wanting to be supercute?

§ Jeet Heer examines The Gender of Coloring

I’d like to see someone do a good gender analysis of why women went into coloring. I’m inclined to see this as something more than mere sexism or the creation of a pink-collar ghetto. One factor at work is that for much of the 20th century, women were more likely to be associated with the decorative arts than men; in commercial comics coloring is often seen as a decorative . I’m not a gender essentialist so I don’t think women have an innately better color sense than men. But for historical and cultural reasons, women in our culture are more likey than men to be raised with color sensitivity.

SAN DIEGO CLEAN-UP:
Looks like I’m not the only person who hadn’t finished her con report!

Tripwire’s Joel Meadows begins his con report: One and Two, including the news that Diamond just isn’t going to carry the British comics magazine.

• Whitney Matheson recaps her meet-up.

• Val gets lots of quotes from folks about what happened

Buzz Dixon
The Small Press Area aisles were much wider this year and the seating area behind the tables was much roomier. I spoke to one small press publisher and overheard another, both of whom said the same thing: They saw little point in coming to SDCCI, spending money for a table, then working their tushies off all weekend to try to break even. This year they both opted to enjoy the show, network, and rely on the Internet for sales. Likewise, Artists’ Alley was smaller, and several of the larger booths/islands from previous years were downsized significantly (f’r instance, Tokyopop and Bud Plant seemed to be only half their previous size). I heard several retailers complain the crowd wasn’t spending like they used to; they seemed to place the blame on the economy and higher transportation/hotel prices this year, which meant many fans had a choice to either attend but not be able to buy stuff, or not attend and still not buy stuff.

1 COMMENT

  1. As a collector of non-fiction comics, I have a few of the ACK issues I found at a used-book sale. It’s a bit like Classics Illustrated, but showcasing Indian history and religion.

    As for girls and superheroes, my four-year-old niece got a Spider-Man face painting…in pink.

    Hmmm… what if Marvel did an “Ultimate” version of Spider-Man, restarting the character, but Peter was Petra or Patricia? Or brought back Ultra Girl? American Dream was a good mini-series, but remains uncollected.

  2. The Amar Chitra Katha seem universally loved in India. I loved reading them whenever we took trips there, and of course brought them back here.

    They have a timeless quality to them. And the art was always beautiful.

  3. Actually … up to ten percent of women posses an extra set of cones that enable them to differentiate between what many would consider “neutral” shades and in the yellows.

    So maybe there really IS a genetic factor as to why women seem to have a long history of being colorists. It makes sense considering women where the foragers and gatherers and that we needed more to detect discrepancies in color (such as a berry or fruit that might be spoiled or poisonous from something ripe or not quite yet ripe) while men, who tended to be the hunters, needed to better see motion (hence why more men are colorblind which actually increases motion sensitivity and night vision).