News

We'll take this occasion of reprinting this year's Center for Cartoon Studies holiday card by Alexis Frederick-Frost to note that thanks to a 12 hour cable outage on my block I've had to repair to the local Not Starbucks for internet. Dear god, this place is a madhouse of men in business suits yapping about plans along with three plucky students from nearby Baruch who looked to have pitched a tent amid empty yogurt containers and one Unabomber type in the back corner typing on a seedy black netbook.

With the March (issue 7) solicitations out, we have a little better idea of what the first round of changes for the New 52/DCnU are. Some of these departures are thought to be the writer choosing to leave (Simone, Brandon) and some appear to be the writer getting the quick hook (Cornell, Gates). When these change decisions were made, there has been history of collected edition sale and it may be a little early to judge digital sales. (Do we know what happens to sales when the titles drop to $1.99? This is new enough, you'd really like to see more than 2-3 months of digital sales before trusting it.)

Wizard World without Gareb Shamus. The entire idea would have seemed ridiculous until just a few days ago when an SEC filing revealed that Shamus, the owner and founder of the company, had been removed as CEO. It was startling news which left everyone wondering what would become of the Wizard brand — once mighty in both media coverage and entertainment shows. Answers are beginning to emerge. In an interview with The Beat, Wizard’s executive chairman Mike Mathews revealed that a new era has already begun at Wizard World, which will include outreach to the entire industry in a move to repair damaged relationships with both other industry players and fans. In one of the most notorious examples of the bad blood which the old Wizard had given rise to, subscribers to the print magazine had not been given any make-up subscriptions for issues paid for but never mailed. However, according to Mathews, a letter is being sent out to old subscribers offering them a $100 credit towards Wizard shows.

Although we can find no official confirmation, it is being widely reported that Eduardo Barreto has died, presumably of complications from the illness he has been fighting since 2010. He was 57. The Uruguayan artist was a staple of '80s comics with work on NEW TEEN TITANS, ATARI FORCE, The Shadow, Batman, and many other comics. He also worked extensively for Claypool Comics. In 2006 he started drawing the comics strip JUDGE PARKER but was forced to give it up in 2010 when he became ill with meningitis. He has some work in an upcoming issue of DARK HORSE PRESENTS.

Joe Simon, legendary Golden Age co-creator of such characters as Captain America, the Sandman and hundreds more, has died at age 98, according to his son's posting on Facebook. Together with his partner Jack Kirby, Simon revolutionized the superhero, horror and romance genres -- there pretty much wouldn't be comics as we know them without the work of these two.

Over on their "Mystery Project Liveblog," Marvel has announced the new team on Astonish X-Men. Taking over with issue #48 in March are Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins.

IDW has announced that Greg Goldstein has been promoted to the rank of president. In a release, Goldstein is credited with helping drive much of IDW's growth in new business channels. Publisher Ted Adams will continue to oversee overall strategy while Goldstein takes on more of the day-to-day operations of the company. In addition, Anna Maria White, IDW's Director of Marketing and PR, is leaving to start her own marketing company.

Oops, well just yesterday The Beat and Michael Sangiacomo were reporting that Archie Comics co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit was continuing to peacefully tell children about the joys of comics despite her past as the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit. However, it seems that a series of anonymous phone calls alerted school officials to Silberkleit's ongoing legal problems and the school visits were canceled. A comics shop appearance and the sale of comics to benefit the schools have gone on as planned. But there is much more than that going on.

Charges against cartoonist/journalist Susie Cagle for "being present at a raid" have been dropped, although not without a bit of drama:

DC sure is coming on steady with these writer changes. On Wednesday, you had Paul Cornell off Stormwatch (though DC really only announced Paul Jenkins writing a 2-parter, Cornell was the one announcing he was off). On Tuesday, you had Joe Harris replacing Gail Simone as Firestorm co-writer. On Monday, you had Tom DeFalco replacing Fabian Niceiza on Legion Lost. Are we seeing a pattern pattern here?

Batman artist, creator rights activist and creator of the Joker Jerry Robinson passed away in his sleep last night. He was 89. Like many Golden Agers, Robinson started young: At age 17 he became an assistant in Bob Kane's Batman shop where he co-created Robin. He also provided the majority of visuals and background for The Joker. Eventually moving into editorial cartooning, Robinson had a long, distinguished career as an artist and educator. In the 70s he helped spearhead the movement to get Siegel and Shuster compensation for creating Superman; he also traveled to Uruguay and the Soviet Union to help free jailed cartoonists. He was President of both the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) and the National Cartoonists Society (NCS).

The Valiant comics relaunch has been brewing for a while, with some hires and much consultation, but they've just let the cat out of the bag -- their new line is expected to launch next May, with a Free Comic Book Day preview leading the way. The preview will feature X-O MANOWAR, BLOODSHOT, HARBINGER, and probably some other Valiant favorites. The creatives teams haven't been announced but the preview over is by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic. Valiant has also hired Hunter Gorinson as Marketing & Communications Manager and Atom Freeman as Senior Sales Representative in addition to Warren Simon as Executive Editor, so they're putting together a pretty good team.