Breaking: Layoffs at Dark Horse
CBR is reporting a round of layoffs at Dark Horse including editors Shawna Gore and Dave Land and sales assistant Max Sato. The Beat has learned that Tim Ervin, Gore's ex-husband, and another editor at Dark Horse, were also let go.
MEANWHILE: DC confirms Retroactive teams — UPDATED
Over at The Source, DC is releasing more info on Retroactive, a series of retro one-shots by classic teams starting in July. No final art has been released yet -- the image of Superman below is just style guide art.
Casey and Dragotta team for Marvel VENGEANCE event
With comics periodical sales slogging along, many have said it's time to throw things against the wall and see what sticks -- Marvel is at least giving a nod towards this by announcing an event called VENGEANCE by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta. Launching as a six-issue miniseries in July, VENGEANCE will take on the Marvel U's bad guys in a fresh fashion, introducing both revamped versions of younger evil-doers along with classic Marvel villains.
"We're going to the Sixth Dimension, Hitler's Germany, an insane nightclub, and a homeless shelter," Dragotta said—of the first eight pages.
Nice art: DIAMOND anthology
Moving on to the fast approaching Stumptown, Floating World is debuting a new issue of DIAMOND, with a cover by Paul Pope and other good stuff. Jason Leivian writes:
Village Voice decides to pay cartoonists after all
A tiny bit of justice at last. A ton of people this week commented that writing about how hard it is to make a living doing comics while simultaneously not paying your cartoonists is a seriously dick move. And Village Voice editor Tony Ortega has decided to scramble up all that egg on his face and give everyone some breakfast:
2011 Eisner Award nominations announced
The 2011 Eisner Award nominations have just been announced, and every year is colored a bit by the make-up of the judging panel, but this year's nominations seem to have gone out of their way to recognize some new faces and names -- the leading vote getters were The Return of the Dapper Men with five and Morning Glories and Locke & Key with four each. It's a vastly eclectic list, and recognizes the incredible diversity of today's comics industry.
Radical returns to Diamond for book distribution
After a year-long stint with Random House as their book distributor, Radical Publishing is back at Diamond, we are told by press release.
The announcement is a bit of a no-brainer, considering that Radical was at last month's Diamond Retailer Summit.
Rob Granito launches pay-for-chat plan; plan fails
As we predicted last week, the Rob Granito team is attempting to get their second act rolling with a round of tell-all interviews. You may recall (it was all so long ago and little noted) that Granito is a person of dubious artistic skill who has been going around to comics shows for 15 years selling copied art that he's passed off as his own. Now, Comics Cube reports a letter is making the rounds:
Village Voice wonders why cartoonists don't make more money — while not paying cartoonists
As mentioned in a previous item, this week's Village Voice is the Cartoon Issue, and the centerpiece is a longish article called If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don't They Pay?; it's one of several recent prominent articles -- like the recent Marvel profile in the em>NY Times -- that focus on the rather frugal level of profits one can expect from publishing comic books in America.
Conte closes print brokering company to become a retailer
Industry veteran Robert V. Conte has long been a behind-the-scenes comics player as owner of Chikara Entertainment, a print broker and book packager who helped with the shift to cheaper Chinese printing, which has allowed many of the lavish but affordable comics reprint series currently available. Conte has announced he's shutting down his business to spend more time with his family. However, he'll stay in the comics world as part owner (with Gary Esposito) of several retail concerns, Brooklyn Comics & More and Manhattan Comics & More, Inc. The latter took over the Cosmic Comics spot on 23rd St.
Archaia announces The Storyteller, Immortals, new publisher
Archaia is having a busy WonderCon, with a bunch of announcements. Yesterday's big story was a GN based on IMMORTALS, an upcoming mythology inspired movie, and today's is an anthology based on The Storyteller, another Jim Henson project from the past -- this one is a little obscure but fondly remembered by many -- basically an old dude would sit there with a dog and tell...stories. Seems ripe for an anthology.
2011 Inkwell Award nominees
Voting in the 2011 Inkwell Awards, honoring the best in the art of inking, has just been opened. The nominees are below; the awards will be presented...well, the PR doesn't really say.
There are some amusing categories below -- Klaus Janson needs more attention and Todd McFarlane is small press -- but giving the hard working inkers of the world some props is always a good thing.
