To Do (Saturday/at any Hampton hotel/your living room)
This weekend is Portfolio Day at The Center for Cartoon Studies. Prospective students cram into the Colodny for a day of tours, faculty talks and portfolio reviews. Their age range is all over the place, fourteen years of age to fifty. Some don't want to come to the school but know that they are on the right track with comics.
It takes an army of men to stop the Hulk…or draw him
Since the olden days of the Marvel Bullpen, it has been tradition to draft an army of freelancers to do an overnight rush to get a book out on time. This week, the week-early release of HULK #2 on comiXology due to a computer error gave everyone who managed to snag a copy before it was withdrawn a chance to peruse the credits and they were a wonderful tribute to this Bronze Age tradition:
Looks like they might be casting for Luke Cage after all
A recent interview with TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 and Dexter scripter Melissa Rosenberg got an update on her development of the Marvel comic Alias as as TV show called AKA Jessica Jones -- and yes Luke Cage will be included:
Indie Month-to-Month Sales: September 2011
Buffy returns in the top spot, although with sales far down on the beginning of the last Season, with Angel in third place. Sandwiched in between is Game of Thrones' debut issue, while TMNT drops to fourth place after being last month's best-selling indie. Further down the charts IDW's other new licensed ongoing titles seem to be benefiting from the increased awareness the new DC books seem to be bringing, while many of Dynamite's licenses seem to be tanking, the aforementioned Game of Thrones apart.
There were 127 indie books in the chart this month, well up on last month's 103. The 103 book this month sold almost exactly what the 103 book last month sold, so this was certainly due to less Marvel and DC books released this month rather than stronger Indie sales. In fact those 103 books sold almost 35,000 less copies than last month, although top 300 indie sales are 1,053,116, almost 55,000 up on August. The bottom book sold 3,341 compared to last month's 4,514. As usual, UK and European sales from Diamond UK are not reported in this chart.
This month Dark Horse were the number three publisher, with 4.76% dollar share and a 3.51 market share, followed by IDW with 4.13% dollar share and 3.10% market share, Image with a 4.08% dollar share and a 3.29% market share, Dynamite with a 3.07% dollar share and a 3.02% market share, and Boom with 1.39% dollar and 0.94% market share. That's the same order as last month, although all but Dynamite have reduced figures.
Marvel expands digital download code program to entire Ultimates line
Looking to expand the "buy print, get digital free" model for their comics which began with this month's AVENGING SPIDER-MAN, Marvel has announced
that every issue in the Ultimate line will be sold with a code for a free digital download of the issue. The price will remain $3.99. David Brothers interviewed Marvel's David Gabriel and Peter Phillips for all the details. The rollout begins with ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #6, ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #7, and ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #7, but the downloads will be available ONLY for Marvel's DCU store on iOS and Android and the Chrome browser -- the codes can not be redeemed via comiXology's Marvel store. According to Phillips, "We've got right now two different digital offerings: we've got the [back issues] of MDCU, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited... and then we've got the brand new stuff that comes out that you can buy on a by-issue basis digitally. [The codes] are focused on the latter."
Witchblade and Red Sonja team-up at Dynamite
Two blade-swinging heroines from different time periods, Witchblade and Red Sonja, are teaming up in a one-shot from Dynamite, and the question everyone is asking is "Will they be wearing chain mail?" The answer is yes! Writer Doug Wagner, artist Cezar Razek and cover artist Alé Garza comprise the creative team.
Bil Keane remembered
Following the death of Bil Keane yesterday, remembrances are coming out. In a widely linked to piece, Lynda Barry explains how the idyllic family served as an inspiration for her growing up in a broken home:
DC announces New 52 collection plans — UPDATED
Over on their blog, DC has announced the rollout for the New 52 collections. Instead of dumping 52 trades in one month, they will be staggered from May-November, with 7 or 8 books released a month. Justice League, Batman, Green Lantern, Detective, Batman & Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Batman: The Dark Knight, Aquaman, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, Action, Superman and Flash are all getting hardcovers; the rest get TPBs.
Missing from the list: Wonder Woman.
More details of Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival
More details of the last big indie show of 2011 have been announced, including related festivities, which include events at Union Pool, the Scot Eder Gallery, the Spectacle Theater and the Brick Theater, and an expanded guest list which, in addition to previously announced legends, also includes Adrian Tomine, Jordan Crane, Michael Deforge, Gabrielle Bell, Dash Shaw, Gary Panter, Frank Santoro, and Leslie Stein.
All kinds of new comics: UXB, Alabaster, Dark Matter, Brandon Graham and Warlords of...
New series from Dark Horse, a new Brandon Graham project and a Martian team-up have been announced for early next year.
Digital roundup: Archie's got Nook, everyone's got Google+ and comiXology rules Wednesday again
Everyone is kookoo for that nutty digital thing!
DC Comics Month-to-Month Sales: September 2011
September was business as usual for DC Comics' periodical sales, as... oh, wait.
The "New 52" project, a relaunch of its complete superhero line via 52 #1 issues, made September 2011 a record-breaking month for DC Comics -- and a joyously eventful one for the people watching their sales. It's not often that publishers attempt something on this scale, unfortunately, so it's nice not to come up with 52 different ways of expressing that sales have mostly been going down, for a change. It's a little bit like that myth about Eskimos and the words they have for snow.
Anyway: The average DC comic book sold an estimated 57,224 units in September, the average DC Universe comic book a whopping 67,411 units. That's more than double what it was in August for both, as well as more than in any previous month since sole distributor Diamond started releasing information on actual sales to specialty retailers in March 2003. The month that comes closest is May 2006, when DC's line-wide "One Year Later" initiative kicked off, with 44,554 (DC total) and 59,505 (DC Universe) units, respectively.
And, while we're breaking records: May 2006 was also the only previous time when the total dollar value of DC's periodical comic books exceeded 10 million, with an estimated $10,157,965. In September 2011, the amount was $10.9 million for DC total and $10.5 million for the DC Universe line, which never broke the 10-million mark on its own before. (Average cover prices were about the same, by the way: $3.05 for DC total and $3.04 for DC Universe in 2006, and vice versa in 2011.)
