Comic-Con comes early this year, and our crack team of correspondents are mustering to bring you around-the-block coverage of the Nerd State Fair. While I usually stay ensconced at Stately Beat Manor with a few other staff members and our tribe of white-headed capuchins. However, I will be flying west on Friday to another, smaller comic con, so I’m getting my hours in now so I don’t use any of my vacation days.
So, here’s the news, as skimmed from Google.
Micro-Stock Red Giant Shows Signs of Trouble
From HotStocked.com:
So, the stock is not exactly consistent, but for those of you who have been following REDG for long enough, this is not really news. The people who know the company well are also aware of its humongous financial difficulties. If you’re not among REDG‘s followers, you might want to take a look at the latest 10-Q. It covers the quarter ended February 28 and it looks like this:
- cash: $41,867
- current assets: $48,857
- current liabilities: $4,956,285
- quarterly revenues: $1,481
- quarterly net loss: $807,579
The statement is absolutely atrocious, but it’s far from the only problem. The toxic debt that the company has picked up over the years is also playing a major role in the stock’s appalling performance.
Between August 31, 2014 and February 28, 2015, the company issued exactly 418,538,643 shares of common stock in order to satisfy $185,510 worth of convertible notes, bringing the average conversion rate down to just $0.0004 per share. Rewind the tape a little further back, and you’ll see that this is not the first time REDG has printed a massive number of discounted shares. Chances are, it won’t be the last.
REDG defaulted on some of the convertible notes when the management team failed to file the latest 10-K on time. As a result, the company incurred $360 thousand in penalties and the people behind it say that they expect to cover these damages with the issuance of more than 1.8 billion shares (that’s Billion, with a B).
Red Giant‘s stock is currently trading at $0.0009. That nine-hundredths of a cent. One thousand shares would cost you ninety cents. I’ve only seen their Free Comic Book Day offerings (which might be their only print comics, according to the Grand Comics Database), which is their business model for publishing comics: like alt-weekly newspapers, the entire operation is supported by advertising, and the comics are distributed via comics shops. Has anyone seen any of their print comics? Here’s hoping they find their way…
FIGHT! FIGHT! Comic-Con vs Comic_Con
The Deseret (Utah) News reports that the trademark battle between Comic-Con International and Salt Lake Comic Con is headed to federal court.
With settlement talks stalled in the lawsuit between the long-established San Diego Comic-Con and Utah’s 3-year-old pop culture convention, a federal judge has given until the end of the month for the two to begin scheduling pretrial hearings. In the lawsuit, the West Coast convention argues Salt Lake has no claim to the “comic con” name.
SLCC tried to trademark their brand, but were told it was too generic, which might help their case.
The filing can be read here. Or if you wish to spectate, search for: Case 3:14-cv-01865-AJB-JMA
If you wish to update your score card, it’s:
SAN DIEGO COMIC CONVENTION, a California nonprofit corporation, Plaintiff,
vs.
DAN FARR PRODUCTIONS, a Utah limited liability company;
NEWSPAPER AGENCY COMPANY, a Utah limited liability company; [publisher of the Deseret News!]
DANIEL FARR, an individual;
and BRYAN BRANDENBURG, an individual. Defendants.
Will We See SuperChick and Kaptain Kool as Well?
Legendary Pictures has released the poster to the reboot of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. (Yeah, the theme song was going through my mind when I typed that!)
Legendary Digital and Fullscreen have partnered with YouTube phenomenons Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart in an updated version of Sid & Marty Krofft’s classic 70s TV series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, bringing the property to a new generation of viewers. ELECTRA WOMAN & DYNA GIRL follows two superheroes Electra Woman (Grace Helbig) and Dyna Girl (Hannah Hart) as they move from Akron to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big in the crime fighting world, only to find competition with other vigilantes and infighting amongst themselves. Both Helbig and Hart have large social media followings with a combined total of over 10 million subscribers and followers over all of their YouTube and social media platforms. Legendary Digital produced this digital series which will premiere on Fullscreen in Fall 2015.
Hmm… why hasn’t The Krofft Supershow been re-issued or re-broadcast? And might we see some speculation on the Gold Key/Western comics?
Disney Worlds of Adventure?
/Film reports
on rumors of changes at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios theme park. $3 Billion has been budgeted to capitalize on Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Pixar. Expect an announcement at D23. While that park is considered the lesser of the WDW parks, it still ranks #8 worldwide in attendance. There will be a new name, and some attractions have already been dismantled, or are doomed: the Studio Backlot Tour, Animation Gallery, The Magic of Disney Animation, the American Idol Experience, and the Sorcerer’s Hat. My prediction: within ten years, expect another park south of the Osceola Parkway, north of the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. . That area isn’t under conservation, and is as big as that of the Magic Kingdom. There’s also a big chunk of land east of the Magic Kingdom Parking Lot/Speedway, which is on the monorail route.
Will One of Them Be Headpool?
Also from /Film, Rob Liefeld will hide 24 Deadpoll sketches around the Comic-Con area.
“I want to give something back to the tremendous fan following Deadpool has enjoyed since I introduced him in the pages of New Mutants #98!” Liefeld told me. “I’m also going to be utilizing clues through various web sites during the show to make it more interactive! Fans are encouraged to follow all my social media outlets on twitter, Instagram and periscope to get all the info surrounding the sketches and the times and clues surrounding their whereabouts.”
How Much to Sleep in the Bathtub?
KGTV, San Diego’s ABC affiliate, reports on locals making coin via Airbnb:
Two couches were up for rent for just under $500. The ad is geared towards people interested in an “alternative way of living.”
On the high end, a man named Justin was advertising a one-bed, one-bath “Comic Con Urban Loft” that sleeps four. Justin stands to make more than $2,800 for someone’s three-day stay.
The money sounds great. But the question is: Are you comfortable with strangers staying in your home?
Searching their website, the cheapest space for Wednesday is $250 in Little Italy, north of Horton Plaza. The highest? $2099, north of the library. If you’re more of an outdoorsman, this might be helpful…
Stan Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Michelle Phan Walk into a Room…
The New York Times reports on Line Webtoon, a YouTube-like site offering free digital comics, and their partnerships with well-known creators.
Like the Korean site, called Naver Webtoon, the English-language version is free. The Korean site and creators make money through merchandising, product placement and subscriptions that allow users to read new chapters before they become available to everyone.
Mr. Akel said that around five million people read the weekly installments of one of its most popular series, “Tower of God,” and that women made up roughly half of that audience.
The English-language version of the site, which has more than 100 series, hopes to capitalize on that demographic with Ms. Phan, a longtime fan of comic books. Webtoon will publish her fantasy and science fiction story that she began developing when she was 11. “I’m a nerd on the side,” the 28-year-old Ms. Phan said. “I loved learning about space and time and dark matter.”
Mr. Lee, 92, will put his knowledge of superheroes to use. He will help decide the winner of a contest to find a new superhero series and will give the victors advice on how to develop their intellectual property.
Another comic creator making the leap to Webtoon is Marc Silvestri, one of the founders of Image Comics, started in 1992 so that creators would own their characters and reap the financial benefits from their creations. He is bringing his Cyberforce series, about a team of heroes with cybernetic implants, to the site, but with a twist: The digital story will have ties to “Aphrodite IX,” a printed comic about a female android in the future.
Yes! Finally something about team coins.
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