News

DC announced yesterday that Ann Nocenti will be taking over the writing chores on Green Arrow, as of issue #7.  JT Krul was previously...

DC sold a lot of comics — so many that they actually sent out a press release about it; even Diane Nelson, previously silent on the relaunch, now thinks it was a great idea. Selling five million comics in 6 weeks is indeed a sizable number; however what augurs the best for the comics industry is that sales across the board were up. Marvel had its best September in a while, as did Image. We're not talking a return to 1993 -- as some retailers thinks -- but more like a return to 2003. Which is still great. It's fairly obvious that customers were waiting for something exciting to happen in order to go back into stores; these disenchanted readers -- Dan DiDio's much loved "lapsed readers" -- have now discovered that comics are still fun. But will they stay that way?

PW reports that Books-a-Million, the OTHER book chain remaining, has also ordered DC's top 100 GNs removed from their shelves in retaliation for DC's signing a digital four-month exclusive with Amazon.

The 20-year legal saga of Michael George reached another conclusion when he was found guilty again in the murder of his wife.

Following his stint at BOOM! Studios, Chip Mosher has joined comiXology as VP of Marketing, PR and Business Development, where he'll run the digital distributor's West Coat office. Mosher was in on BOOM!'s early experiments in digital comics, so he'll doubtless bring much of that experience to comiXology, as well as his formidable talking abilities. It's a strong move for both parties. As if you hadn't figured out that digital comics are here to stay, they are now hiring real people for real jobs for, presumably, real salaries.

Here's an update on the status of the CCS Schulz Library, which was endangered by flood waters but saved by a plucky and heartwarming band of volunteers who risked danger and dampness to rescue every single book from the library. Although the books are high and dry, the building they were housed in is in questionable shape, and the books are extremely jumbled from the sudden move. In order to get things organized for the new class, arriving in scant days, a call has gone out for some help:

Yesterday, ICv2 ran a three-part interview with DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and JIm Lee which is, if not the most substantial comics business site run interview with the duo ever then the most comprehensive since the reboot. Brigid runs down all the high points but in case anyone missed it, here's Part 1, Part 2 andPart 3. It covers everything from the obvious "Why ARE you doing this?" -- to questions on mass market, digital, and so on. The net effect, as seen in mainstream interviews of late, is that things weren't working -- the price decrease didn't bring in enough new readers, stories were flat and piracy is hurting. But there are some familiar themes as well. Asked about The Way Forward, they respond:

BY JEN VAUGHN - Sunday night, a heroic group of cartoonists clamored their way over rocks, train tracks and rushing waters to evacuate the Schulz Graphic Novel Library.

This morning Tom Spurgeon had the dramatic story of the CCS Library being threatened by a flood. Seen above in more idyllic times, the Charles Schulz LIbrary is part of the Center for Cartoon Studies campus in White River Junction, VT, and as the name suggests, it is located close to a river, which in the Irene aftermath, flooded its banks.

Just as a reminder, today and tomorrow Floating Worlds in Portland is holding a Dylan Williams Benefit Sale

. The Sparkplug publisher is in the hospital battling cancer -- with no health insurance, so he can use all the help from his friends he can get.