Comics

When he isn't pacting, Stan Lee is getting awards! This January he'll be present with the Vanguard Award from the Producers Guild of America.

By Paul O'Brien -- It's the column you've been waiting for! The September sales - for Marvel! Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? Okay, so September was DC's month. And understandably, most publishers got out of the way, rather than trying to launch any new titles against the New 52 onslaught. Marvel had the second month of the Ultimate relaunch, and there are a couple of new Icon books in the form of BRILLIANT and the returning CASANOVA, but that's really about it where new launches are concerned. Of course, there's also the continuing crossovers of "Fear Itself", "Spider-Island" and "Schism", and Marvel's standard practice these days would be to launch the new books after those events, not during. For the first time in quite a while, DC had the biggest share of the market, leading Marvel by 43% to 38% in units, and a razor-thin 36% to 35% in dollars. (Incidentally, those market share figures apparently don't apply the retainability discount which Diamond factored into the sales of individual issues.) If that seems closer than you expected, bear in mind that with 52 superhero comics, DC were actually cutting their line back. Marvel solicited almost 80 Marvel Universe superhero books for the same month - though that may not last, given that lower selling titles are now apparently being culled.

Since the feverish excitement over the announcement of the Kindle Fire, there has been much speculation over just who and what would be comics-based partners for the platform. Although the comiXology app was prominently displayed on promo materials, all involved were mum when asked about the pact. And there has also been speculation about whether Amazon's panel view mode would be competition for comiXology's Guided View. Well, it is now official: the comiXology app will be available at the Kindle Fire's debut:

ICv2 catches the fact that two volumes of NARUTO will be released digitally before the print edition. Vol. 54 and Vol. 55 will be available as part of the shift to Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, the digital weekly that's replacing the print edition. The availability window is pretty steep -- NARUTO Vol. 54 is available now; the print version drops January 3. It's just a scheduling anomaly but it is still startling to see one of the world's best selling comics available in digital first.

Marvel has released schedule and cover art info for THE TWELVE, an ambitious 12 issue miniseries by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston that stalled out somewhere after issue #8 in 2008. In order for newcomers to catch up, the'll be offering a colelction of the first 6 issues,, a must have of issues 7 and 8 and then the rest of the series twice monthly starting in February:

The featured guests for this Decembers Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival have been announced, and it's pretty spectacular: CF, Jack Davis, Phoebe Gloeckner, Lisa Hanawalt, Chip Kidd, David Mazzucchelli, John Porcellino and Brian Ralph. If you are like us, you are most excited about the chance to meet the legendary Jack Davis, who was not only an EC Comics mainstay, but one of the original MAD artists and one of the most influential illustrators of the 60s and 70s with his unmistakeable "bigfoot" style. So YEAH. Amazing.

Over at his blog, Image Publisher Eric Stephensonshows two Image covers that won't make it into the Previews catalog unaltered because they contain swastikas, which cannot legally be shown in Germany.

Isabel Greenberg's "Love in a Very Cold Climate" -- the story of lovers repelled by polar magnetism -- has won the 2011 Graphic Short Story prize given out by the Observer/Comica/Vintage Books. London-Based Greenberg has contributed previously to Nobrow and Solipsistic Pop. The story is part of a larger work called The Encyclopaedia of Early Earth.

And....another digital provider heard from, as iVerse -- which powers the IDW store and has partnered with Diamond for their own digital distribution -- has announced a new $4 million funding from the PS&J Group. The money will be used to expand its offerings and for promotion.

Although keeping their GN backstock in print isn't a Marvel priority, the new Nook Tablet was just announced this morning with Marvel as a very active partner. Marvel's Ryan Penagos was at the unveiling and live tweeted it and was around to answer follow ups -- including avoiding the question of whether this is an exclusive or not. First the hardware deets; The 7-inch Nook Tablet will run $250 and offer 16 GBs storage, with an SD expansion slot which supports 32 GB SD cards. Netflix, Hulu Plus and Pandora will be available. Like its predecessor, the Nook Color -- which remains available for $199 -- the tablet will have browser and email capabilities. Here's an early review.

I CHEW you, Pikachu! Sarah Becan has created butcher charts for some of the best known Pokémon and they are both cute and grisly. Bonus prep tips:

Initially considered to be nothing more than an annoying invasive species. Recently it has been discovered that Magikarp hides a light, delicate flavor for the enterprising chef willing to extract this Pokémon's numerous bones.

On October 21st, Stephen Bissette from The Center for Cartoon Studies met up with Oliver Goodenough from The Vermont Law School to discuss Jack Kirby and his relationship with Marvel Comics. The Comics Journal put the audio up and it is a good listen with a nice James Sturm introduction