News

Like other retailers, a lot of comics shops are having big Black Friday deals today. Check out the comments at this thread for some listings. After you've pulled an all-nighter at Wal-Mart, why not stop by your local comics shop to pick up some handsome giftees, always following the essential holiday shopping principle: two for you, one for me. Our inbox has a few more deals and announcements.

First woman to win a Hugo Award (1968, for “Weyr Search”)
First woman to win a Nebula Award (1969, for “Dragonrider”)
First with a science fiction title on the New York Times Bestseller List (1978, The White Dragon)
Named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America (2005)
Joined Science Fiction Hall of Fame (June 2006)

Mark Millar has staked a place out for himself as both a franchise comics creators, able to sell books on his name alone, and someone who isn't afraid to hold a renegade opinion -- and he is prepared to defend his answer with his own logic, which may or may not conform to what is generally considered common sense. Thus this long piece in which he says day and date digital is not a good thing for comics, suggesting that a theatrical to dvd type model make more sense -- print being the theatrical release, digital being the DVD. Digital readers "aren't as hardcore as the first group, but they're a great place to recoup any money lost in the initial phase. Digital comics are like TV rights to me in that they're the tertiary phase of all this. These are for the most casual, mainstream readers or viewers and much cheaper than the primary or secondary waves. They're a great way of pulling people in for the next product coming out in theatres or in comic stores, but absolutely not the bedrock of your business."

Thanks to some SEC filings, you can see how much a good-sized regional convention is worth -- in the case of Wizard World's 2010 acquisition of the Mid-Ohio Con, the amount was $77,500. $60,000 was to be paid in royalties on booth sales and sponsorships only over a period of several years, with a five-year consulting fee of $3,500 to be paid out after $60k in royalties was reached. The Wizard World page doesn't have booth costs for Mid-Ohio, but several people complained that they were raised this year, so everyone was getting their share of the till. Wizard World has just announced its first 2012 show, January 28-29 in New Orleans, and the current lineup for next year is a modest 4 scheduled shows -- with the Big Apple con and Austin still TBD.

We all know DC signed a deal to give Amazon digital exclusivity to 100 graphic novels (and it kind of blew up in their face). You were probably thinking that you could read one of those DC digital graphic novels, like Watchmen, on any device that runs a Kindle app. (Bleeding Cool has a tweet of Warner Bros. saying just that.) It turns out, this is not the case. As DC's Hank Kanalz says, "You can't do that today but that’s the intention going forward. Like other other Amazon digital editions, readers will be able to read their graphic novels on any device."

As you have probably heard by now, cartoonists Tom Hart and Leela Corman have experienced the unimaginable tragedy of losing their young daughter, Rosalie Lightning, at the age of two. The couple had recently moved to Gainesville, FL to start a new life and open a school for cartoonists. Tom and Leela are two of the best people in this comics world, and to know they must endure this is heartbreaking.

This weekend I suffered the technocrat's greatest nightmare and dunked my iPhone. It's currently sitting in a bag of rice and soon I will find out if my life is over or not. In the meantime, for someone who is attached at the metacarpal to her iPhone, this past weekend was very interesting. For instance, I had to find my way to someplace I'd never been. Instead of relying on GPS when I got out of the subway, before leaving the house I had to look it up on a map and print it out. And then pull out a paper and look at the map when I arrived. It was like a Geico caveman commercial.

WonderCon may have moved to Anaheim for 2012 due to Moscone Center construction, but the Bay Area will not be without a spring comics show....thanks to Image Comics and the Image Expo. The creator-owned company is planning its OWN convention, to be held February 24-26 at the Oakland COnvention Center (original home of WonderCon, btw). Image Expo is planned as a 20th anniversary celebration for Image, and will feature as guests of honor Image partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Other creators attending include Image founders Rob Liefeld, and Whilce Portacio, plus Joe Casey, Jay Faerber, Jonathan Hickman, Ryan Ottley, Richard Starkings, Fiona Staples, and Brian K. Vaughan. All will participate in panels, signings and other traditional convention activities.

Former comics retailer and convention runner Michael George was sentenced to life in prison today for the murder of his wife Barbara 21 years ago. The sentence was mandatory in Michigan, so there was little suspense. At the sentencing, George still protested his innocence. ""Something will be found,' he told the court. "Someone will come forward. I have never harmed a woman in my life. Let's not forget no one saw me there — no one."

As usual, Mark Evanier has word of the passing of writer Alvin Schwartz at age 95, a prolific writer for DC in the '40s and '50s who invented many elements of the Superman canon:

Marvel's culling continues, with both GHOST RIDER and BLACK PANTHER reaching their final issues.

While comics pundits continue to debate (well, really beat down) Frank Miller over his ornery comments about the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy Comics continues to ramp up, with the addition of contributions from Darick Robertson, Dan Goldman, and musician Amanda Palmer , just three new high profile contributors with, we're told, more to come. The project has a Kickstarter page , and is already $1000 away from their goal of funding comics coverage of the protest movement. Susan Cagle, Charlie Adlard, Molly Crabapple, Joseph Michael Lisner, Steve Niles, Tim Seeley, Ben Templesmith, and others are already on board.