Kids' comics

While we were noting our one-year anniversary on our calendar, we also asked some of out pals and gals to update us on what they were up to, comics-wise, and a lot of them obliged. So we'll be posting them as we go along. And we'll keep doing more of it because..it's fun.

Talk about an undersea no-brainer: SpongeBob SquarePants creator Steve Hillenburg will be creating the first ever standalone US SpongeBob comic, to be distributed by Bongo. Former Nickelodeon Magazine comics editor Chris Duffy, who edited the SpongeBob comics in that magazine, will edit the series.

TAKIO is definitely something different from Brian Bendis and Michael Oeming: a kids' story. Set in a family where two squabbling sisters learn to come together after an accident gives them superpowers. Released through Marvel's...

A minor market segment, these box sets offer what most fans are clamoring for: ownership of the actual file instead of an app, affordable comics (even at $50, the per-comic cost is usually below twenty-five cents), and extras which turns these collections into electronic omnibuses. However, due to sticker shock, and the experience of reading these comics on a horizontal screen, many fans have been reluctant to purchase these collections. Which means that now, as the digital marketplace transitions to apps and browser-based readers, these older CD- and DVD-ROM collections are being sold at clearance prices. So, dear readers, in these challenging economic times, we offer you this bargain bin listing of select titles found on Amazon.com. We make no money from directing you to these forgotten gems, and, as with anything on the web, caveat lector et emptor.

Archie is going to publish its first OGN -- and its in the foolproof "Archie Babies" format. Mike Kunkel (Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam) writes and Art Mawhinney does the art. The project was previously announced as a regular comics series but the new format allows them take advantage of Archie's new distribution deal with Random House, says co-CEO Jon Goldwater:

Neill Cameron is best known online for his A-Z of Awesomeness and drawing a lot of weird Santa Clauses on his blog last month, but he also recently had his comic Mo-Bot High released...

(Sarah McIntyre (right) with Gillian Rogerson, the writer of You Can't Eat a Princess, at Thought Bubble last year.) Sarah McIntyre’s Vern and Lettuce was one of the most recent round of books released from...

When the weekly DFC comics magazine came to an end in 2009 after only 43 issues many in the UK comics scene were saddened by its loss. The magazine was launched by David Fickling...

It's been a little bit since we saw an indie comic get picked up by a mainstream publisher, but after many months of rumors, it is true: Andy Runton's popular Owly character is a getting a full color book, to be published in March by Simon & Schuster. The book is licensed from Top Shelf, which has been Owly's home for five books and six years.

Meltdown Comics in LA is holding a one day kid-centric comics event, spearheaded by Sam Humphries, with other children's comics makers Ian Brill, David Server and Jackson Lanzing , and Chris and Shane Houghton also on hand. These kid of children friendly events are a great idea and more and more are springing up. Info below.

A couple of posts over the weekend commented on the diversity or lack there of of contemporary comics and comics retailing: In the wake of the Thor: The Mighty Avenger disaster, Brigid asks Can all-ages comics survive on the direct market alone? and ponts out thet kids these days like GNs and not periodicals:

Diamond has a newish website called kidscomics.com with information and even a separate Kids Comics Previews order form .pdf for those retailers who want to jump into this fast-growing market segment.