Publishers

[Little more than a week ago, Marvel announced a big change at the top, with VP, Executive Editor Axel Alonso being promoted to the role of Editor-in-Chief. A ten-year Marvel veteran, Alonso originally forged his name as one of the best regarded editors of the modern era during a stint at DC's Vertigo imprint where he developed 100 Bullets and won a reputation as an editor of thought-provoking action who got career-defining work from writers like Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello. As one of the main players at the Jemas/Quesada Nü-Marvel, he continued to make waves, introducing a gay Rawhide Kid, editing the acclaimed Peter Milligan/Mike Allred X-Statix and revitalizing such characters as Luke Cage and the Hulk. In recent years he's continued to bring in new talent, including a bevy of crime fiction writers like Victor Gischler and Duane Swierczynski. It's a strong creative portfolio for someone coming to the position and seeing how Alonso makes his mark on perhaps the most fabled job in comics will be one of the most important stories of the next few years. Despite his busy busy schedule, Alonso very graciously made time this week to answer some of the main questions facing any comics industry executive in these interesting times.]

Just how gay were the old Marvel Swimsuit Specials? Very, very gay, Richard Cook writes, and JR JR demonstrates:

Long-running comics publisher Archie is taking the plunge to become the first comics publisher to put its entire line for sale in print and digital at the same time, it's been announced on their blog. DC announced day and date with BATMAN BEYOND last week, but this is the first time a publisher has made the whole line available. The policy goes into effect on April 1, and will include KEVIN KELLER #1, starring the popular gay character.

§ In the never-ending discourse over gender and comics, one of those classic anecdotes -- this one told by a man:

The big news of the day: D&Q has picked up Kate Beaton and will publish her next collection, HARK! A VAGRANT. Beaton's current print outlet is the Topatoco edition of Never Learn Anything from History, which, every time we've seen Beaton at a show -- is sold out. Grrrrrr. It isn't clear from the PR if this is a new edition of that material or all new but the word "next" suggests the latter.

The Vertigo blog has some news and art this am, a new blurb for AARON & AHMED, the GN by Jay Cantor and James Romberger. Also news of MARZI by Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia, sort of a Polish PERSEPOLIS about a young girl growing up in '80s Poland. Interestingly, this is NOT an original GN but a translation of the original, which was published in France, a bit of a change for the imprint. (That's the Spanish version above.)

While searching for various comics events, I discovered this over on the Image Comics website. Here, uncensored, is the PR from their website.  That's a...

So, as happens frequently in America, we treat History like a Cassandra, reading and studying, but choosing not to believe or remember the lessons it teaches us. I know Cassandra's fate, and thus the dangers of saying "I told you so". So instead, I'll quote Gene Wilder in " Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory": Oh, you should never ever doubt what nobody is sure about. So, what can we expect in 2011?

Marvel had quite a lot of new material on the market in November. Aside from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN shifting to a fortnightly format with its new "Big Time" direction, we've also got two new ongoing titles, GENERATION HOPE and SPIDER-GIRL. Further down the chart, there's also a veritable horde of new miniseries, including ASTONISHING THOR, OSBORN, SHE-HULKS and a whole bunch of CHAOS WAR tie-ins. As usual, Marvel had the largest share of the direct market. It's a relatively close month, though, with a lead over DC of 40% to 37% in unit share and 34% to 33% in dollars. A major factor there will be a number of high-profile Batman comics in the top 10.

The influential and historic DARK HORSE PRESENTS anthology -- last seen as an online anthology available on MySpace and later adapted to print --...

Coming from D&Q next year. Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber are Canadian art idols, and it's easy to see why.

After a few years sojourn at DC doing TRINITY, among other things, Mark Bagley has returned to Marvel, Bendis and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man for the "Death of Spider-Man" event.