The bigger picture: Some big mergers fail, but the craze isn’t over
Is consolidation still cool? A number of big deals have collapsed in recent days, whether it's just the dog days of summer or something...
SDCC ’14: Defending the “Superfan” to the NY Times
As just reported, the NY Times delivered a pretty strong diss to the economics of Comic-Con, and I'm sure con vets and observers will...
SDCC ’14: Report, Comic-Con attendees are cheapskates again
Veteran NY Times entertainment business writers Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes have perhaps put the final curse on a year in which SDCC got a little bit smaller, by reviving claims that con-goers are low rent consumers unworthy of high end sponsorships:
Rupert Murdoch wants to team up the Simpsons and Bat-Mite, and here’s why that’s...
I heard about the Rupert Murdoch putting in a bid for Tim Warner a little while ago and thought it was too astounding to...
Report: Digital comics sales at $90 million in 2013
Milton Griepp has run his annual analysis of digital comics sales and the numbers are up again. He reports that digital was at...
DC’s New Royalty Program – Let’s Do The Math On Single Issue Sales
You probably heard that DC has revamped their royalties program, adding colorists to the payout mix and lumping digital in with print. We should...
DC resets royalty system; colorists and digital now eligible
I've been hearing a lot of conspiracy theories of late about DC, and some of them involve their participation/royalties system. In addition for quite a while, people have been complaining about the fact that colorists aren't eligible for royalties—and neither are digital-first comics.
But that is changing. I understand a letter has just gone out to DC creative folks announcing a complete overhaul of the DC royalty system. For the first time colorists will be eligible for royalties and will get cover credit. And digital first will also be eligible for royalties. Little things like direct deposit and electronic vouchering will also be available.
CrowdWatch: The Economics of Digital Comics by Todd Allen
Frequent Beat contributor Todd Allen has just launched a Kickstarter for a new edition of his book The Economics of Digital Comics —the goal...
Rocket Raccoon #1’s Initial Orders Inflated By Single Source
by Brandon Schatz
A few days before the book’s final order cut-off with retailers, Marvel let it slip that their upcoming Rocket Raccoon series had...
Graphicly leaves behind a big old mess
As reported by Steve Morris, the shutdown of Graphicly, the once competitive digital comics service, has left a lot of unpaid creators, and confusion over its relationship with POD/self-publishing platform Blurb, which hired six former Graphicly employees including founder Micah Baldwin. While it's clear that Graphicly shut down, whether it actually filed bankruptcy claims isn't as clear. While poking around with legal filings, I did find an older wrongful termination case by former vp of sales Michael Croy. While disgruntled employee rules apply, it does add to a picture of financial woes that were going on as far back as a couple of years ago. I'd appended both Croy's complaint and Graphicly's response.
Marvel escapes from the jaws of Amazon-Hachette dispute; Yen press not so lucky
For the last few weeks, a war has been brewing between Amazon and book publishing giant Hachette, which publishes Yen Press, and distributes Marvel's...
Comic Cons business update: $3 billion economy? Wizard convention profits up 188%
A couple of things floating around out there that quantify the rise in comic book convention profits. Rob Salkowitz quantifies some very interesting research by Eventbrite and guesses that comic book theme events could be as much as a $3 billion business, a number that dwarfs the $600-700 million usually given for the comic book industry itself. Attendance is up about 20% every year, while some profits are up by triple digits. While all pop culture events are up, comic book events are up the most, even more than video game and other industries:
