Play-Doh’s frosting shooting penis and other dubious toys
So Play Doh made a thing called the Sweet Shoppe Cake Mountain Playset that allowed you to mold inedible Play-Doh into the shape of luscious cakes. It all seemed like innocent fun.
Kibbles ‘n’ Bits 12/31/14: Almost done
Final housekeeping of 2014: I keep trying to use Wordpress's new "lite editor interface" but it keeps posting things when I meant to save...
NBC announces Constantine return date and time-slot
When NBC's take on DC/Vertigo's chain-smoking anti-hero struggled in the ratings, the network halted production on Constantine after 13 episodes. Middling critical response and a...
Michael Keaton reminisces about his time in the Batsuit
Michael Keaton finally had his big comeback year in 2014. With Birdman, and his very meta portrayal of a washed-up superhero actor, Keaton now...
Hickman Relaunches The Manhattan Projects and Takes a Marvel Break
By: Alexander Jones
Jonathan Hickman is going through a pretty massive career change. First up, he’s relaunching The Manhattan Projects with a new number one and...
Must buy: Economics of Digital Comics by Todd Allen
Disclosure: Todd Allen is a long-time contributor to this site, so read the following as advanced log-rolling if you will.
That said, the book he kickstarted over the summer, Economics of Digital Comics is out. I have an early digital copy and this is really a book everyone in the comics business should read, especially people going into various digital models, from crowdfunding to subscription to pay what you want. Allen casts a cynical eye on most of this stuff, and runs numbers to show what works and what doesn't. But he also looks at print costs, and the economies of other channels to give a strong overview of what we talk about when we talk about selling comics in 2014. The book has new interviews with digital players and statistics on what webcomics earn from advertising, how much it costs to print books, what the big players take out of various delivery methods and more. All footnoted. And an introduction by Mark Waid, who has become something of the spokesman for Generation Digital.
Nice art: Valiant Next variants designed by Tom Muller
Valiant is letting out all the stops with the Valaint Next launch, and luckily most of the stops look pretty nifty. It's a competitive...
Larry Gonick is back with The Cartoon Guide to Algebra
Long before graphic novels were "respectable" there was Larry Gonick, whose Cartoon History of the Universe books were respected and bestselling looks at history as told in a fanciful but well researched cartoon style. A former calculus calculus instructor at Harvard and a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, his science bona fides have never been in doubt. And he's back in January with a Cartoon Guide to Algebra. Is there a way to make the abstract more comprehensible with comics? We'll soon find out.
Marvel and Netflix’s ‘Daredevil’ leaning towards ‘The Wire’ in its tone
By Kyle Pinion
With 2015 just a few days away, we're on the verge of another big deluge of superhero cinema and television; from Agent...
Nice Art: The Animal Battles of Maryanna Hoggatt
Portlandia artist Maryanna Hoggatt specializes in highly detailed statues of animal warriors that are pretty spectacular—fans of Tooth and Claw take note.
The statue...
Danielle Corsetto announces Girls with Slingshots is ending
Long running—since 2004—and very popular webcomic Girls with Slingshots will be drawing to a close in the next few months, as announced in the...
Rough calculations suggests 2% of millennials read comics
Millennials, can't live with 'em, can't get a vanilla soy macchiatto without 'em. Among the many charges levied against these lazy, disengaged kids is that they ever grow up and read too many comic books. BUT IS THAT TRUE? Commentator Kevin Drum—who I normally adore—does some back of the envelope calculations and concludes that only 2% of millennials are comics readers. For the numerically inclines out there (translation: Torsten) here are his envelope calculations:
