Big Two Comics

There is change in the air in comicbookland. It may be more than in the air...it may be in the streams, lakes and landfills, too. Maybe it's here already and we just don't know...

It's that time of the month where comics sales pundits analyze monthly sales. ICv2 has it's industry standard sales estimates, and praise for how DC turned the ship around with Rebirth. Comic sales in September...

You may have noticed that Batman '66 is doing a lot of team-ups over the last year or two.  Green Hornet.  Man From U.N.C.L.E.  The Avengers. (Steed & Mrs. Peel, that is.)  Next time...

Multiple sources are reporting that DC was touting three books as their second wave of Rebirth titles at today's retailer breakfast: the Bennett/Epting Batwoman title that was announced today, the Orlando/Reis Justice League of...

Hate and outrage have defeated love and optimism yet again. On Monday it was suggested that Marvel had a story trick up their sleeve that would steal the spotlight from DC's ramming-speed publicity blitz for its revamped universe and Rebirth #1. A shocking!!! plot twist in Captain America Steve Rogers #1 that revealed Steve was really a Hydra agent all along seemed unlikely to unseat a wholesale rewriting of ten years of DC history, along with a shocking Alan Moore related plot twist. But, today we have a genuine tweet storm and think piece blitz, all wrapped in a bow

Looks like DC's Vertigo line is still alive and kicking and even announcing some new titles from exclusive creators. Joshua Williamson, sometimes known as "The man in the hoodie" has just gone exclusive with...

Yesterday Alex Zalben had a modest proposal on CBR called For Comics to Survive, They Must Align with Movies & TV and drew a lot of fire on comics twitter. The piece starts out pointing out how DC dropped the ball by not having a Supergirl comic to come out with the Supergirl TV show but unfolds it as a tarp to cover much of the Big Two publishing strategy:

We've been keeping an eye on threats of eroding comics sales that may spell trouble ahead for the comics industry, and it isn't just Brian Hibbs any more. Big Bang Comics in Dublin, Ireland...

Please note the "FIGHT!" title is a joke—Tony is a wonderful human being, and we're just having a good old fashioned argument, like friends do. But this is the internet and we must ratchet up the appearance of conflict so....

2015 was a great year for comics, but comics sales were generally up in single digits, which is not a bad thing, but less growth than before. There have been many "storm on the...

In this week’s podcast, the More to Come Crew - The Beat's own Heidi MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons - discuss the new Supergirl tv show and writing to appeal to female audiences,...

At the recently concluded Small Press Expo in Bethesda a very cool thing happened. A bunch of awards were presented to several talented, unique cartoonists who are turning out though provoking, beautifully crafted work, influential work. The winners were all popular and well deserved. And they all happened to be women. It was a thing, for sure, and much talked about. What struck me, first off, was just how strong the work was–Sophie Goldstein's multi leveled future history of a world where having a baby became a rebellious act, Emily Carroll's mastery of horror and structure, Eleanor Davis's powerful examination of self-sabotaging quests for self-esteem in many settings. The other thing that struck me was the contrast with the other conversations I was having at the show. Talking with people I used to work with in the "mainstream" comics industry about the long lists of men who would never have given Goldstein, Carroll or Davis a shot at telling their stories. Because they are women, and those people didn't think women could make good comics.