Sociology

Ever since the announcement of the "Earth One" line of graphic novels just over a year ago, it's been a little unclear just who the line was aimed at, or how it fit into DC's various lines of books. Subsequent statements just muddied the waters. Although obviously an Ultimates-type revamp for new readers, with just one book on the schedule -- the just released JMS/Shane Davis SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE -- it was just a toe in those same muddy waters.

Kelly Thompson has part 2 of her Ladies Comics Project up and we repeat THIS SHOULD BE MANDATORY READING for comics publishers and creators. The idea of giving comics-friendly but not necessarily conversant readers various comics is a bracing alternative to the endless nitpicking of constant readers who sleep on mattresses stuffed with shredded copies of DEATHMATE. For instance, 37-year-old event planner DeAnne was disappointed the cool pop art cover looked nothing like the insides:

It's been a long year of change in the comics industry, and New York Comic Con feels like the end point of an arduous but rewarding journey. We were just doing a search for blogs posts about the show and already found fairly fascinating two think pieces that show the ascendance of nerd culture as a boon -- or a threat, depending on how you view it.

Now THIS is interesting. The other day we were talking about how the lack of strong demographic readership info is definitely felt in the comics space. It's not a scientific survey, but Kelly Thompson at She Has No Head has started something called the Ladies Comics Project where she asks her female friends -- some comics readers some not -- to pick and read a comic previously unknown to them and give their thoughts.

From a comment at Techland:

Okay, so far today we know senior citizens are reading comics, millennials are using wifi to have human contact...but WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN????? Well according to a Scholastic study, they are reading things on handheld devices We'll just jump ahead to the nut graph:

Comics are for everybody -- even Muslims! You all know abut The 99, Naif al-Mutawa's ongoing attempt to create heroic archetypes for Middle Eastern youth. They have their own theme park and cartoon in development and everything and got a shout out from President Obama earlier in the year for helping bring people together.

Apparently they are rioting in Canada over the fact that a man was nominated for the Kim Yale award. If by rioting, you mean writing some articles for the internet. Von Allan , the man in question nominated for the previously all-female Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer, was interviewed by the CBC and this gave rise to a couple of pieces, noting what a groundbreaker he was being nominated for an award traditionally given to women cartoonists:

Over on her blog, Valerie D'Orazio announces that as of January she will no longer be running Friends of Lulu, the organization formed to promote women in comics. Instead she'll be putting her efforts toward a new organization called "Comics are for Everyone."

The New York Times has a story on how Comic-Con has become a venue to market to -- gasp! -- girls with lots of info on various toy and clothing lines, including gymnast Nastia Liukin's Supergirl line of clothing.

Friends of Lulu president Valerie D'Orazio announces that this years Friends of Lulu Awrds will have a new home -- the Long Beach Comic Con. Nominations are open to the public, and can be made here -- but hurry the deadline is August 23rd. After nearly shutting down just a few weeks ago, Friends of Lulu has reemerged with an interim volunteer board. In addition, missing financial records have been recovered, and the organization is moving forward once again.

Lesson #1 of San Diego Comic-Con 2010: You can’t live on breakfast from the Embassy Suites.

Or if you do, you will pay a fightful price.

It was Thursday morning at Comic-Con, the morning after Preview night and the day when things blast into high gear with a roar of thunders and a crack of ozone. It was my second morning at the Embassy Suites, the “family hotel” of the Inner Circle. With a free breakfast buffet and “manager’s receptions”—aka FREE BOOZE—every evening, not to mention giant suites that sleep 6 comfortably, the Embassy Suites is the best bargain at the con for those, like this year’s Beat, on a budget.