Indie Comics

By Matthew Murray Buffy returned to its usual position of top selling "indie" book this month, but its the last issue before it goes on hiatus for a few months. "Hellboy in Mexico Or, A Drunken...

It would have pleased Harvey Pekar, I think, that his passing yesterday was noted in every media outlet from the New Yorker to EW, and not just because they made a movie about him, but as a literary figure of worth and stature. Harvey's life's work was in showing that the ordinary was important, and a working class existence was not a prison but a journey through the profound and beautiful that anyone could experience if they took the time. He found that beauty in simple, quotidian things and experiences that others might have found trivial or mundane, but in the end his message was that what else is there? Life as it is lived is the most precious gift of all.

Season Three/Episode Three: It Hurts Me Too It hurts me to tell you what you already know - this recap is late.  Let’s just say my cable company sucks.  So there I was Sunday, all...

The top “indie” book on the charts this month is a $1 issue of The Walking Dead #1. However, none of the other Image $1 books have charted either this month or last, so I’m not sure how accurate this numbers is. Invincible Returns was the best selling non-reprint #1 of the month, and led to a substantial increase for the regular issue of Invincible as well. While Turf #1, also from Image, was the highest launch of the month. Image had a 4.26% unit share, and a 3.96% dollar share, Dark Horse had a 3.82% unit share and a 4.88% dollar share, IDW had a 3.41% unit share and a 3.92% dollar share. Dynamite fell to a 2.38% unit share and a 2.33% dollar share.

This weekend sees the Maine Comics Arts Festival in Portland, ME. In its second year the show has expanded to two days -- a day of FREE panels at the Portland Public Library this Saturday and then a exhibit on Sunday at the Ocean Gateway. There's also a comics art show on display at the Lewis Gallery at the Portland Public Library. Guest list is here, headlines by Brian Wood, Skottie Young and Jeff Lemire. The Portland Press HErald previews the show here and the organizer, Rick Lowell of Casablanca Comics.

By Matthew Murray

Dynamite grabs the top indie comic spot this month with the first issue of their adaptation of Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet script. However, issue 2 sees a fairly large drop, and people seem unsure if the market can support the five Green Hornet titles Dynamite plans on launching.

Elsewhere on the chart Green Hornet Year One written by Matt Wagner is the second biggest indie launch of the month, The Guild and Terminator are Dark Horse’s newest launches, and Zenescope shipped a lot of books.

IDW had a 3.61% market share, and 4.02% dollar share, Dark Horse had 3.33% market share and 4.76% dollar share (gotta love those trade paperback sales), Dynamite had 3.08% market share and 3.40% dollar share, and Image had 3.01% market share and 3.22% dollar share.

I’ve listed every indie title in the top 225, every Dark Horse, Image, and IDW title in the top 300, and a selection of other titles.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.

I’ve probably started my last three Stumptown reports with this, but I love Portland and the Stumptown Comics Festival. You could rightly say that it’s because Stumptown was the first show that I actually set up at, back in 2007 (has it only been two and a half years of being on the other side of the table?). You could, but I’m not sure how accurate that is. Comparing the Stumptown show of 2007 (in chilly October) to that of 2010 (in springtime cool April) is a tricky thing. The show has grown and been managed in such a way as to make the two very different.

2007 yielded decent attendance for an independent comics show, though was often long periods of quiet punctuated with silence. Sure, part of that was the fact that I was just selling a mini/ashcan preview then. Nobody else seemed to have any complaints about the size/speed of the show and I didn’t have anything to compare it with, though I remember it not being particularly busy most of the time (a good starter show, as opposed to jumping in with both feet to say Wonder-Con or the like.)

Yesterday the above, somewhat disturbing photo, swept through the internets like a virus, with the breathless question : is this a leak from the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie?... Latino review, which first cirulated he photo, says that it's just a class project from one of make-up master Tom Savini's students. However we are happy to report that THIS is the real deal: PIZZA TIME!... The above is Jon Vermillyea 's drawing, and it is not disturbing at all.

If you couldn't be at Stumptown, you could follow along via Twitter, or check out the Portland Mercury's photos, or Anna Faltermeier's, or read Sara Ryan's account of the Comics for Young...

Such a busy weekend! The indie comics tour continues in the Midwest with the SPACE Festival, held this year at a new location:Ramada Plaza Hotel & Conference Center4900 Sinclair RoadColumbus, OH 43229Show hours are...

The Stumptown Comics Fest unfolds this weekend in Portland, one of the premier events on  the indie comics circuit, and what with the Mayor declaring it "Comics Month" in PDX, you know this is...

Dylan Williams is the founder of Sparkplug Comic Books, art film/used bookstore owner , and guy behind the scenes in many of Portland's comic and independent press events. A few months back, I sent Dylan some questions for an article on Diamond for PW Comics, expecting a few short answers, and when I got his responses, I wanted to print them all.