News

As we've mentioned here several times, there have been no more important graphic novels published in this century than PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi and FUN HOME by Alison Bechdel. Both found large audiences well beyond the traditional ones for comics, and both have become oft-imitated -- but never duplicated -- by book publishers trying to cash in on the "graphic novel" trend. (The number of graphic autobiographies exploring ethnic roots alone is staggering.)

Continuing our roll-out of picks, prognostications and previews from the comics industry. Part one can be read here.

First off -- something we forgot to post yesterday: pages from Charles Vess's projects for the year:

A 16 page full color graphic narrative about Istanbul, Turkey. 50 paintings for ‘The Cats of Tanglewood Forest’ written by Charles de Lint and to be published by Little Brown & Co. And my on-going work on my own book, ‘The Greenwood’ which use a combination of pure text, illustration and hundreds of pages of graphic narrative content to tell its story.

Well, that didn't take long. 2012 has claimed its first publishing casualty as Bandai Entertainment has announced they will be canceling their manga and home entertainment publishing to focus on licensing their brands as they undergo a restructuring. Their Facebook and Twitter accounts will also be shut down.

Ronald Searle, creator of St. Trinians and Molesworth and one of the great cartoonists of his generation, died December 30th at age 91, it's being reported. Searle lived a dramatic early life:

The world may be ending in 2012, but that doesn't mean that people don't have some things to keep them busy until then. In our annual year-start tradition, we asked comics industry professionals -- creators, publishers, librarians, retailers, journalists -- about the year past and the year to come. While a few huge stories seemed to dominate last year -- reboots and digital -- there was much more to it. And 2012 is wide open. Along the way, we have some previews and news tucked away in those "2012 project" descriptions. Before the end, well all have something to read. Many thanks to all who took time from the busy holiday season to answer our survey. And here's to a great 2012 for all!

Following the departure of VP of Marketing Micha Hershman, Dark Horse has promoted former director of online marketing Matt Parkinson to the post of senior director of marketing. Parkinson, a six-year DH vet, will take over the duties of overseeing DH's marketing efforts.

His long-time collaborator Beau Smith remembers Eduardo Barreto, who passed away a few weeks ago -- a remembrance accompanied by some stunning art.

Marvel has won a four-year legal battle over who owns the rights to Ghost Rider. On Wednesday a judge rejected the claim by writer Gary Friedrich, who co-created the character in 1972's MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5 along with Roy Thomas and Mike Ploog.

Stopping digital piracy has become a full-time obsession for most major entertainment companies; but the Stop Online Piracy Act now wending its way through Congress is probably not the way to do it -- a far too broad law that would give lawmakers powers to stop just about any activity they don't like via cutting off funding to the site and other zero tolerance measures. Although aimed at hard-to-stop foreign websites that recognize no copyright laws, opponents say the bill goes way too far in allowing copyright holders to choke off stuff they don't want with an arsenal of tools.

Did you get some money from Memaw and Pepaw for Christmas? If you're not going to spend it on a comics shop, howabout buying Kevin Eastman's art studio? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator is auctioning off all the contents of his art studio -- located within Meltdown Comics -- with 20% of the proceeds to go to the Hero Initiative. Eastman gives a tour of the overflowing contents of the studio in the very entertaining video above. Among the anecdotes he drops along the way -- he once owned a Batmobile and his goal was to dress in a complete Batman costume and drive up to the 7-11 for a pack of smokes in full Batman gear -- a dream sadly unrealized. Here's some of what you will win in this treasure trove of '90s and '00s nostalgia.

A few suggestions on how publishers can improve their websites. Feel free to add your own in the comments! (And, yeah, I guess we could take some ourselves, "what's sauce for the goose" and all that...)

Since everyone is always comparing the comics business to the music business in terms of retail erosion, howabout looking at a music success story? The New York Times has a profile of musician Cee Lo Green explaining how, despite the economic decimation in the music industry, he's been able to make some $20 million this year by rigorously branding himself and expanding his activities to including numerous TV hosting gigs, merchandising and Vegas. Along the way some interesting iTunes numbers are dropped. Although "F&^% You," Cee Lo's anthemic yet catchy song of moving on was downloaded some 5.3 million times in the US, that doesn't mean he made $5 million from it.