News

Uh-oh.

If all you do is read the headline and the excerpt, I want you to remember this phrase: "Digital is the new Direct Market." Not "digital is the new newsstand". Direct Market. Let me explain with some history.

It’s one of The Beat’s favorite times of year: Brian Hibbs’ annual BookScan analyses! Not only has he broken down reported sell-through for the graphic novel category, he’s made the raw data available for us all to have fun with. In past years Hibbs used this data to talk about the importance/supremacy of the direct sales market for comics material, and I had cause to disgaree with some of his conclusions. This time, all he does is analyze the numbers, because they kind of speak for themselves. And he's done an amazing job. I urge you all just to go to the link and read the whole damn long thing. But for those who have pressing matters, here’s my own edited take on a few conclusions: (And a lot are similar to what I said last year! And also to what I said about the Diamond year-end figures.) But it bears repeating:

If you were thinking of getting into the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con via volunteering, that window too passed a few weeks ago:

[Yesterday Diamond announced their plan to team with iVerse to offer digital comics downloads for sale in comics shops. Gievn the hot button nature of this discussion, and the big picture nature of the announcement, Dave Bowen, Diamond's Director of Digital Distribution, was eager to talk to us to explain more about it. This is a long interview, but Bowen goes into welcome detail on the thinking behind and motivation for this plan. Short version: retailers deserve to be brought into the process.]

Hiroko Tabuchi of the NY Times has alengthy piece Japan's recent legislation banning sales of adult material to minors. Along the way there's a lot of "Only in Japan!" stuff:

Bam, the other shoe has dropped: as long anticipated, Diamond is starting a program to offer digital comics sales. Comics will be offered day-and-date exclusively through participating retailers -- with a 30-day exclusive for these stores. Products offered include regular downloads for $1.99 with "Digital Plus" comics -- extras offered with a print purchase -- for $.99, all in hopes of becoming a revenue stream for stores and publishers alike.

This year's Stumptown Comics Awards are going to a juried format, and to do this...you must have a jury. The five judges form a...

With all the changes at Wizard over the last year or so, CEO Gareb Shamus has been a tough interview to nail. Our own requests have gone unfulfilled for months, although everyone involved -- including Shamus himself -- has been friendly and professional about the matter. Thus it's a great get for Valerie D'Orazio at MTV Geek to finally sit him down for a chat that covers the positives and negatives of recent Wizard moves. The entire interview is recommended but many observers are unlikely to be swayed by these kinds of statements:

In her 72 years, Tura Satana learned karate, dated Elvis Presley, tracked down the men who raped her when she was 9, starred in FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL!, was a noted burlesque dancer, broke her back, was married three times, had two daughters, and inspired the entire canon of gothabilly. Who knows how much of it is true, but she was pretty damn cool.

There's been a lot more chatter on the internet about the ideas touched off last week by Eric Powell and Steve Niles. Here's one...

Following the departure last year of Director Karl Erickson, MoCCA has just announced two new hires; Cartoonist Doug Bratton will fill the role of...