Aaron Colter leaves Dark Horse
Marketing Coordinator Aaron Colter tweeted and social networked yesterday that he and Dark Horse had parted ways. Colter was a whiz at Twitter and Facebook and all the other ways we talk today, and managed these fuctions for DH, but he also was, shall we say, irreverent -- not perhaps the best image for a respected publisher. At any rate, maybe posting stuff like the attached image was a tweet too far.
Comicsbeat is One this week!
Although we've been at the Beat blogging game since 2004, this is the first time we've had our own "creator-owned" website at our very own not-gonna-change url. Making it a year has had a few roller coaster moments, but it's been a year of vast learning and satisfaction. Oh, there have been a few pesky problems along the way, and the front page looks wack (because Team Beat hasn't been able to fix the image resizing script yet) but overall we're just happy to be here and incredibly grateful for all the support we've had from creators, publishers, advertisers and of course, readers.
2011 Shuster Award nominations
Nominations for the 2011 Joe Shuster Awards, honoring the best in Canadian comics, have just been announced. Winners will be announced at a public ceremony in Calgary, Alberta on the evening of Saturday, June 18th, 2011 at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo which takes place June 17-19, 2011 at the BMO Round-Up Centre.
In addition to nominees for various categories, judges chose two cartoonists for induction into the Hall of Fame: Chester Brown and Todd McFarlane.
Borders update: Can't pay the rent
In today's Borders Death Watch™ News the troubled chain is suspending payments to vendors and landlords.
RIP: Jeff Alexander
Jeff Alexander, a mainstay of the DC comics scene and former Executive Director of SPX, died suddenly over the weekend of a heart attack. He's survived by his fiance, Erika. Shocked remembrances poured out:
Art Spiegelman wins Grand Prix at Angoulême
Art Spiegelman has won the Grand Prix at this year's Angouleme comics festival, meaning he will be the "marshal" for next year's festival, setting the pace for the whole show.
The Creator's Front for Diversity in Comics puts out a hilarious video
Just to send you off on your weekend, here's Eric Powell of THE GOON with a hilarious and yet sobering video on what is really going on in the comics industry.
Amazon says ebooks outselling paperbacks
MEANWHILE, over at Amazon, some notable statistics emerged from this week's Digital Book World conference. Perhaps most strikingly, Amazon says that Kindle book sales now outpace paperbacks:
In reporting its latest earnings, Amazon
Borders gets financing but publishers balky
It's been a while since we checked in at Borders, the financially troubled book chain. The latest efforts have been towards getting financing and...
The Bonfire Agency heats up, Part 2: Steve Rotterdam
[Yesterday we chatted with one half of the Bonfire Agency, Ed Catto. Today we grill Steve Rotterdam on the nerd marketing equation, Bonfire's research and consulting activities, and whether Patton Oswalt was right about too much geek being a bad thing.
Steve Rotterdam served as partner and Chief Creative Officer at the East West Agency before joining DC Comics as Sr. VP Sales and Marketing for three years. His background gives his take on the comics industry and where it is going an informed and unique perspective.]
RIP: Clément Sauvé
Canadian artist Clément Sauvé (1977-2011) has died at the tragically young age of 33 after a battle with cancer. He entered comics working as an assistant to Yanick Paquette but made his own mark with pencils on projects including G.I Joe, JLA Secret Files, Stormwatch and the fondly remembered Human Defense League. Most recently he had been working in character design.
ComiXology to let retailers sell digital comics
Problem solved!
ComiXology, the leading digital comics provider, is going to let brick and mortar comics shops set up affiliate storefronts on their sites, building on comiXology's existing programs for retailers, such as digital pull lists and so on. Prominent retailer Chris Powell explains, “Having seen comiXology’s Retailer Tools and Pull List services, we trust comiXology’s technology to help us thrive in a market where customers are interested in both print and digital comics. ComiXology will help us provide the one-stop shopping that customers are looking for. Digital comics can be a great tool for reaching out to new or lapsed customers, and retailers should not be afraid of this new format. Instead, they should look for ways to make the digital format complement their existing print business."
